Department for Transport

Railways: Airports

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of rail connectivity to each of the UK's 20 busiest airports.

Mr John Hayes: This Government recognises the importance of high quality, efficient and reliable road and rail access to airports as it contributes to the experience of passengers, freight operators and people working at the airport, but also contributes to the local, regional and national economy. The government’s plans for the strategic rail connections to airports are taken forward through its High Level Output Specification (HLOS). This defines, following assessment, the railway that the government wishes to see by 2019 and includes four strategic priorities, one of which is to improve railway links to major ports and airports. For clarity in respect of airports across the UK, surface access to airports is a devolved matter and therefore the responsibility of the respective administrations.

Midland Main Railway Line: Disability

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to ensure that all rolling stock on the Midland Mainline is compliant with disability legislation by 2020.

Paul Maynard: Train operators, working with rolling stock owners, are responsible for ensuring that the rolling stock they operate complies with disability legislation. The Department will continue to monitor operators’ compliance with the relevant legislation to ensure that all rolling stock requiring modification is accessible by 31 December 2019.

Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Expert Committee: Public Appointments

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2016 to Question 53656, how has the recruitment campaign been extended; whether those posts have been re-advertised; and how many people responded to the initial advertisement.

Andrew Jones: We have extended the timing of the original recruitment campaign to take a closer look at the 32 applications enabling us to ensure that the requirements for these key roles are fully met, that we have fully tested the market and we get the best people for the job. We have not re-advertised these posts.

Mid-Cheshire Railway Line: Electrification

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government has set a timetable for the electrification of the Mid-Cheshire railway line.

Paul Maynard: The Government intends next year to set out its priorities for investment in train services and infrastructure in the next Control Period from 2019. This will be informed by advice from the rail industry, Transport for the North and other stakeholders. The Government is committed to ensuring that every part of Britain benefits from our investment in the railways. Improvements in rail services can be delivered by new trains, electrification or other infrastructure improvements. The Government keeps under close review what options will ensure the maximum value to taxpayers, passengers and freight users.

Transport: Finance

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 3.17 of the Autumn Statement 2016, whether the £1.1 billion investment in local transport networks is in addition to the pothole action fund.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 3.17 of the Autumn Statement 2016, how the £1.1 billion investment in English local transport networks will be regionally allocated.

Andrew Jones: The £1.1 billion investment in local transport networks is in addition to the £250 million pothole action fund. The £1.1 billion will be allocated for local highway improvements which aims to either reduce congestion at key locations, upgrade or improve the maintenance of local highway assets across the country, or unlock economic and job creation opportunities. Further details will be announced in due course.

A282

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicle accidents on the A282 were registered by Highways England between 1 September 2014 and 31 August 2015.

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicle accidents on the A282 were registered by Highways England between 1 September 2013 and 31 August 2014.

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicle accidents on the A282 were registered by Highways England between 1 September 2012 and 31 August 2013.

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicle accidents on the A282 were registered by Highways England between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012.

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicle accidents on the A282 were registered by Highways England between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2011.

Mr John Hayes: The table below provides a) the number of collisions of all types recorded by Highways England/Highways Agency, and b) the number of personal-injury collision reported to the police, which occurred on the A282 for the time periods requested. Perioda) All collisions recorded by Highways England/Highways Agencyb) Personal-injury accidents which were reported to the policeSept 2010 to August 20117476Sept 2011 to August 20127951Sept 2012 to August 201314371Sept 2013 to August 201431864Sept 2014 to August 201567564 The figures in a) are all incidents described as a “road traffic collision – no injury” or “road traffic collision injury / fatality” but have not been verified. Prior to 2014, incident data was recorded manually in paper format and was completed by staff with multiple responsibilities, so all incidents may not have been recorded.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information there is in the Govia Thameslink Railway remedial plan that designates train cancellations and lateness on driver-only operation (passenger) services caused by faulty rolling stock.

Paul Maynard: The Remedial Plan includes benchmarks covering all cancellations that Govia Thameslink Railway are responsible for. The benchmark is not disaggregated by specific reasons or rolling stock types.

Railways: Compensation

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the administrative cost per claim under the Delay Repay scheme.

Paul Maynard: The administration costs of the Delay Repay schemes are a matter for the train operators. We expect that the train operators will develop and operate efficient administration processes to minimise these.

Railways: Compensation

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to make reforms to the Delay Repay scheme that align compensation awards to the proportion of the anticipated journey time lost to replace thresholds at 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

Paul Maynard: Delay Repay is a simple system under which all passengers can claim compensation of: 50% of the single fare for delays of 30 to 59 minutes100% of the single fare for delays of 60 minutes or more100% of the return fare for delays of 2 hours or more The improved compensation announced on 13 October will enable all passengers to also claim compensation of 25% of the single fare for delays of 15 to 29 minutes. A system based on the proportion of journey time delayed would in practice be much more complicated and we have no plans to change the compensation system in this way.

Arriva Trains Northern

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Arriva Rail North Ltd on overcrowding on that company's services operating under the Northern franchise; if he will take steps to bring forward (a) the introduction of new rolling stock on that franchise and (b) increased journeys on those services; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: The delivery of the 281 new carriages for Northern are already on tight delivery timescales with no ability to bring their introduction forward. As part of the bidding process all bidders were encouraged to bring forward their delivery of additional rolling stock as early as possible. Any increase in journeys or train services is limited by the availability of rolling stock and there is currently an industry wide shortage of spare diesel units.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2016 to Question 53644, on Govia Thameslink Railway, what previous claims for force majeure have been agreed by his Department in respect of industrial disputes on the railway.

Paul Maynard: Since May 2015, 4 events across 3 train operating companies have had force majeure claims agreed in respect of industrial disputes on the railway.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2016 to Question 53179, what meetings officials of his Department have had with Govia Thameslink Railway since January 2016; and who was present at each such meeting.

Paul Maynard: As this is a management contract, officials have regular meetings with Govia Thameslink Railway. All levels of official can and do attend, from the Director General for Rail Group and the Managing Director for Passengers Services down.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2016 to Question 53181 and with reference to point 2 in the letter of 17 November 2016 from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport to the Chair of the Transport Committee, on what basis the calculation of the amount of farebox revenue lost as a result of industrial action was made in the absence of a completed assessment of the force majeure claim for such action.

Paul Maynard: Govia Thameslink Railway provided the Department with the figure that was given to the Chair of the Transport Committee. The force majeure claim has no impact on such calculations.

Southern

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish the final report of the independent project board into Southern Rail, chaired by Chris Gibb.

Paul Maynard: Chris Gibbs’ final report will be presented to the Secretary of State by the end of the year. No decision has yet been made as to the publication of this report.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2016 to Question 53644, on Govia Thameslink Railway, if he will publish the force majeure guidance provided to operators.

Paul Maynard: The Department has not issued general guidance to franchised train operating companies, as the force majeure provisions are defined as part of franchise agreements, which form the contract between the Department for Transport and train operating companies for the provision of franchised rail passenger services.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Housing: Construction

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of powers available to community groups to appeal against housing development targets drawn up by local authorities.

Gavin Barwell: Local authority housing targets must be based on an objectively assessed evidence of need and the capacity to meet that need. There are opportunities for community groups and local residents to raise their concerns about proposed housing targets through public consultation on an emerging Local Plan, and again at the independent examination which must be undertaken before the Local Plan can be adopted.

Housing: Worcestershire

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of new housing being developed in Worcestershire in the next three years which will be specifically reserved for first-time buyers.

Gavin Barwell: We do not hold such information. Through the National Planning Policy Framework we ask local councils to use their Local Plans to meet the full, objectively assessed needs for all types of housing in their areas.We have consulted on a 20% Starter Homes requirement for suitable housing sites of 10 units or more (or 0.5 hectares or more) for the regulations under the Housing and Planning Act 2016. We are considering the responses and will set out our future plans for housing in the forthcoming White Paper.

Housing: Worcestershire

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that new housing developments support economic growth and increase job creation in Worcestershire.

Gavin Barwell: An extra £5.3 billion of funding for housing was announced at Autumn Statement, taking total planned investment to over £25 billion for the Spending Review period. This funding will support construction jobs, but also wider economic growth. Building more of the right homes, in the right places, is central to our vision of a country that works for everyone. Further details will be set out in the government’s forthcoming Housing White Paper.

Mayors: Yorkshire and the Humber

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will hold discussions with local authority leaders in Yorkshire on creating a post of Mayor of Yorkshire.

Andrew Percy: We have been clear that devolution is a bottom-up process, and that while devolution must take place across a functional economic area, the precise geography is in the first place a matter for local areas. The Government has been equally clear that a significant devolution of powers and funding to a local area requires the accountability provided by an elected Mayor. Within Yorkshire, we remain committed to working in partnership with local authorities to implement devolution for the Sheffield City Region, which includes the creation of an elected Mayor.In the past week, I have also met with Yorkshire leaders at the Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire All-Party Parliamentary Group, and met with the leaders of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Change of Use

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to require planning permission before the use of a building is changed from Use Class A4 to A1.

Gavin Barwell: Since 6 April 2015, where a drinking establishment in the A4 Use Class is nominated or listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), the permitted development rights are dis-applied, and a planning application is required for the change of use.This provides the right balance between protecting valued community pubs and avoiding blanket regulation which would lead to more empty and boarded up buildings.

Travellers: EU grants and loans

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2016 to Question 52441, if he will take steps to promote the use of EU structural funds to support greater Roma involvement in the labour market.

Andrew Percy: No. Roma, Gypsy and Traveller groups and local authorities can engage in European Structural and Investment Funds through their Local Enterprise Partnership.

Housing: Cambridge

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Autumn Statement 2016, what proportion of the Housing Infrastructure Fund will be allocated to Cambridge; and how many new homes and affordable homes he estimates that fund will provide in Cambridge.

Gavin Barwell: Making housing more affordable is critical to this government’s mission of building a country that works for everyone. The recent National Infrastructure Commission Interim Report on the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford corridor provided further evidence of this need for Cambridge.The government will be publishing a Housing White Paper, which will set out a comprehensive package of reform to deliver the step change in house-building that this country needs. To help, the government is investing £2.3 billion in a new Housing Infrastructure Fund to support the delivery of up to 100,000 new homes in the areas that need them most. Local government will bid for projects and money will be competitively allocated to the bids that deliver the most additional homes in areas of high housing demand. Details will be set out in due course.Cambridge City benefits from the £500 million Greater Cambridge City Deal, which is currently investing £20 million a year capital grant for investment in local infrastructure. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Leaders have also agreed proposals for a Devolution Deal which would give a new Mayoral Combined Authority control over an additional £20 million a year of grant funding over 30 years. Under these proposals, the Deal would include an extra £70 million over five years, ring-fenced for Cambridge to meet housing needs.

Housing: Construction

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 3.12 of the Autumn Statement 2016, how much of the £1.7 billion investment by 2020-21 intended for accelerated construction on public sector land will be spent in each region of England.

Gavin Barwell: £1.7 billion of investment for Accelerated Construction was announced at the Autumn Statement. This will see up to 15,000 homes started on surplus public sector land this Parliament.We are currently undertaking detailed project scoping. Further details about the programme will be made available on completion of this work.

Leasehold: Service Charges

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the ability of leaseholders who own their own flats to challenge the level of service charges they pay; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of regulation of service charges to ensure that such leaseholders are able to challenge the levels of service charges they pay.

Gavin Barwell: The reasonableness of the service charges that landlords seek from leaseholders will depend on the nature of the works required and other contributing factors, such as the terms of the lease, and its covenants.The law is clear that service charges are payable only to the extent that the costs have been reasonably incurred. In support of this, leaseholders have the ability to apply to the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for a judgement where they do not believe the charges are reasonable. Leaseholders must also be consulted when major works are being proposed.The government is introducing legislation to prevent landlords from claiming excessive legal costs as separate administration charges when leaseholders challenge service charge costs in the Courts. This will help to ensure that service charges levied are fair and reasonable.

First Time Buyers: Yorkshire and the Humber

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of first-time home buyers in Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last 10 years.

Gavin Barwell: The Department’s English Housing Survey provides estimates of the number of recent (bought within the last three years) first time buyers in England. The latest figures can be found in AT1.6 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/501068/2014-15_Section_1_Households_tables_and_figures_FINAL.xlsxThe department does not publish regional statistics.

First Time Buyers: Yorkshire and the Humber

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support first-time home buyers in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Gavin Barwell: Help to Buy: Equity Loan is available across England, offering an equity loan of up to 20% and enabling people to buy a home with a deposit as low as 5%. From scheme outset in April 2013 to end June 2016, over 91,000 households across England purchased a home through the scheme, of which 81% were first-time buyers. In Yorkshire and the Humber, 8,921 households have purchased a home through the scheme, to end June 2016. In the 2016 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor confirmed continued support for home ownership through the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme.Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee has been available across the United Kingdom since October 2013 and is due to close to new loans at the end of December 2016. It enables people to purchase a home with an 80-95% mortgage. Across the United Kingdom, over 86,000 households have purchased a home through the scheme to end June 2016, with 79% of sales to first-time buyers. In Yorkshire and the Humber, 8,177 households have purchased a home through the scheme, to end June 2016.Help to Buy: ISA is available across the United Kingdom and enables people to save toward their first home. The government offers a 25% bonus on savings, up to a maximum of £3,000 bonus. Over 15,000 Help to Buy: ISA bonuses have been claimed to the end of June 2016, which has supported more than 11,000 home purchases. To end June 2016, the scheme has supported 1,210 households in Yorkshire and the Humber in buying their own home.We are spending £9.4 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable housing starts across England by 2021 (2020-21). We published the prospectus for the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes 2016-21 programme on 13 April and bidding closed on 2 September. The Homes and Communities Agency is currently assessing bids before we announce allocations in December. Assessments are being made on the basis of the criteria set out in the national prospectus rather than any pre-set regional allocations. More detail on the bidding process for new bids through continuous market engagement will be published shortly.We are committed to building starter homes with a minimum 20% discount for first time buyers between the ages of 23 and 40 to help them into home ownership. We will set out our future plans in the forthcoming Housing White Paper. The Homes and Communities Agency is working with Councils in Yorkshire and the Humber to identify specific sites that could be brought forward for starter homes as part of our £1.2 billion fund to bring forward starter homes on brownfield land.

Housing: Construction

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support the construction industry in delivering more modern and high-quality prefabricated housing units.

Gavin Barwell: The Government wants a housing market where all firms embrace innovation to become more productive and deliver a better product to the consumer. Using modern methods of construction (MMC) has the potential to get homes built faster and to higher quality standards.We are encouraging MMC through our housing and planning programmes including Affordable Homes 2016-21, Build to Rent and Housing Zones, and through our National Planning Practice Guidance.We are also providing funding. In October, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government launched the Home Building Fund, which aims to provide further support to builders using MMC, in addition to custom builders, small and medium-sized builders, and new entrants to the market. Full details are published at www.gov.uk/homebuildingfund

Local Plans

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many local planning authorities have not yet (a) agreed and (b) adopted a local plan.

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the likelihood of some local authorities not having agreed upon and adopted a local plan by the end of 2017.

Gavin Barwell: As of 30 November 2016, 37 (11%) of 338 local planning authorities had not published a local plan since 2004 and 90(27%) were yet to adopt one.We expect all authorities to have a plan in place and to keep their plan up to date. We have put that requirement beyond doubt by legislating for it in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill. Information provided to my department from local planning authorities and the Planning Inspectorate indicates that by the end of 2017, one authority may not have published a plan and 66 may not have adopted a local plan.

Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when the new chairman of the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership will be appointed; and when the present such incumbent's term will expire.

Andrew Percy: Holding answer received on 02 December 2016



The Chairman of Coast to Capital is appointed by the Board in accordance with the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Articles of Association. These provide for the Chairman to serve a three year term, which may be renewed once. I understand that the current Chairman’s first term is due to expire in May 2017.

Green Belt: Sutton Coldfield

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish a list of all representations he received relating to his decision to permit building on green belt land in Sutton Coldfield.

Gavin Barwell: Holding answer received on 02 December 2016



We will provide the Rt. Hon Member with a copy of representations we received in relation to our decision to withdraw the holding direction given to Birmingham City Council on 26 May 2016. The withdrawal of the holding direction allows the Council to adopt the Birmingham Development Plan 2031. In compliance with Environmental Information Regulations 2004, we will ensure personal information is protected when releasing these representations.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Eduational Exhanges: USA

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of future prospects for exchange programmes between students in the US and UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson: The Government continues to support the mobility of the brightest and best students between the US and the UK. Last year we issued over 14,000 student visas to American students to study here, a steady increase over previous years. The Institute for International Education (IIE) Report Open Doors 2016 confirms that the United Kingdom remains the leading destination for American students in Europe, and that over 11,000 UK students studied in the US during 2015-16. Exchange programmes enrich the education of students and are important in enhancing and developing the UK’s relationship with all important international markets, including the USA. Through the US-UK Fulbright Commission in 2016 alone 85 US students and post-docs took up study in the UK and 45 British students studied in the US. The Fulbright social mobility programme with the Sutton Trust also supported a further 66 British students to gain fully funded undergraduate scholarships to study in the US. The Government also provides £2m per annum grant–in-aid to the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission which, together with some university partnership funding, enables Marshall to award up to 40 scholarships per year to US citizens with both academic and leadership potential for Master’s and PhD. courses in UK universities.

Innovation

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the oral contribution by his predecessor of 28 June 2016, Official Report, column 130, when the Government plans to publish a National Innovation Plan.

Joseph Johnson: Holding answer received on 29 November 2016



The good work towards a National Innovation Plan will now feed into the broader development of the Industrial Strategy. First and foremost we need long term productivity growth and we must therefore encourage and spread innovation. Science and Innovation is one of our national strengths and will feature strongly in our Industrial Strategy.

Energy: Rutherglen and Hamilton West

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average proportion of household expenditure on energy bills was in Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jesse Norman: The proportion of household expenditure spent on energy bills is not available at a regional level. On average, in the UK in 2014, 4.9% of all household expenditure was spent on energy bills. This data is from the Living Costs and Food Survey by ONS and has been calculated by summing the domestic household expenditure on gas, electricity and other household fuels, divided by the total household expenditure.

Living Wage

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed increase of the national living wage announced in the Autumn Statement 2016 on the number of people unemployed.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the increase in the national living wage announced in the Autumn Statement 2016 on UK productivity.

Margot James: The Government will publish an impact assessment on the increase in the National Living Wage announced at Autumn Statement in due course.The Low Pay Commission has recently published its autumn 2016 report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-minimum-wage-low-pay-commission-autumn-2016-report This considers evidence on the impact of the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage to date. In addition, the Office for Budget Responsibility produced an assessment of the National Living Wage in annex B of its July 2015 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, available here: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-july-2015/

Living Wage

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with small and medium-sized businesses on the potential effect on productivity of the proposed increase in the national living wage announced in the Autumn Statement 2016.

Margot James: My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State has not had specific discussions with small and medium sized businesses on the potential effect on productivity of the proposed increase in the National Living Wage. However, the Secretary of State, and other Ministers in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly meet with representatives from employers of all sizes, including to discuss the potential impacts of the National Living Wage. In its remit to the Low Pay Commission, the Government asks it to monitor and evaluate the National Living Wage and in making recommendations it is asked to consider the pace of the increase, taking into account the state of the economy, employment and unemployment levels, and relevant policy changes. The LPC recently published its autumn 2016 report, which summarises its consultation with a wide range of business stakeholders on the impact of the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage. The report is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-minimum-wage-low-pay-commission-autumn-2016-report

Living Wage

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to help manufacturing and small businesses deal with potential increases in labour costs resulting from the proposed increase in the national living wage announced in the Autumn Statement 2016.

Margot James: The Government appreciates that the increase in the National Living Wage may mean extra costs for manufacturing and small businesses and is committed to ensuring that the National Living Wage works for businesses of all sizes. The Government has increased the Employment Allowance by 50% from April 2016, giving employers a £3,000 employer National Insurance Contributions discount. This is estimated to benefit up to 500,000 businesses who, as a result, can employ four people full time on the current NLW and pay no National Insurance Contributions. The increase in the allowance is of greatest benefit to small businesses. We are also extending Small Business Rate Relief, meaning that 600,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all. In addition, the cut in corporation tax from 20% to 17% by the end of the Parliament will benefit over a million firms of all sizes and give the UK the lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20.

Electricity Generation

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page 21 of his Department's report on electricity generation costs, published in November 2016, when his Department plans to publish its findings of the whole system impacts investigation.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Electricity Interconnectors: France

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on energy (a) prices and (b) capacity of the damage done to the electricity interconnector between France and the UK during Storm Angus.

Jesse Norman: Interconnectors, as with all electricity infrastructure, may occasionally be unavailable because of the need for repairs and maintenance. However, electricity supplies are secure this winter. In forecasting capacity margins, National Grid allows for unplanned outages – such as this one – in their planning. National Grid has a variety of tools to manage the system and ensure supplies, including 3.5GW of balancing reserve.We have not assessed how the damage sustained by the IFA (Interconnexion France-Angleterre) on 20 November will affect the wholesale electricity price, given the various other factors that contribute to wholesale costs, not least the expected direction of flow through IFA this winter.

Electricity Interconnectors

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of whether the incident which damaged the electricity interconnector between France and the UK during Storm Angus has potential safety implications for existing and proposed interconnectors between (a) the UK and other countries and (b) Northern Ireland and Great Britain; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: National Grid and the French transmission system operator are jointly conducting a full investigation into the incident that damaged the interconnector between France and the UK during Storm Angus. Teams on both sides of the Channel are working to restore this interconnector to full availability as soon as possible.Interconnector developers employ a variety of tools to reduce the risk of damage to the cable, including thorough sea-bed risk assessments, geotechnical analysis of the sea-bed and a review of shipping routes near the project. Where physically possible, reinforced cables are buried under the sea-bed; where the conditions do not allow for this, the cable is protected by other means, such as rock placement or concrete. Once in service, interconnector cables are regularly surveyed to ensure they remain protected.

Electricity: Prices

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Capacity Mechanism on household electricity prices.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Post Offices

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2016 to Question 54761, on what dates each of the post offices in Bargain Booze shops was opened.

Margot James: As per my answer of 29 November to Question 54761, the location and provision of its post offices branches is the responsibility of Post Office Limited. I have asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the Hon Member on this matter and provide the information requested. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

UN Human Rights Council

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that migrant worker rights are on the agenda for the next session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Alok Sharma: The United Kingdom does not intend to press for this topic to be considered at the March 2017 session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), as the HRC traditionally considers the protection of the human rights of migrants on an annual basis at its June session. A resolution on migrants in transit was adopted by consensus on 30 June 2016.A resolution on the right to work is likely to be tabled at the March session, which follows the adoption in March 2016 of a resolution on the issue. While it did not reference migrant workers specifically, the resolution addressed a range of issues which affect migrant workers (as they do all workers). It also mandated the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to report on the relationship between the right to work and the enjoyment of human rights by women. We expect the March session to consider that report. We do not know at this stage whether the resolution will specifically reference migrant workers.

UN Human Rights Council

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that religious persecution is on the agenda for the next session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Alok Sharma: The promotion and protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief is a high priority for the UK. It was one of our pledges for re-election to the UN Human Rights Council in 2017-2019, and will inform our approach to Council sessions and UN Special Procedures. At the 34th Session in March 2017, we will work with likeminded partners to maintain consensus on the adoption and implementation of both the EU's 'Freedom of Religion or Belief' resolution and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's 'Combating Religious Intolerance' resolution, both of which we expect to be tabled at that session.In addition, the new UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, will also present his first report. A dialogue with Member States will follow, giving the UK further opportunity to set out our support for his mandate and to draw attention to priority issues.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Official Gifts

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to which countries his Department has gifted equipment costing less than £300,000 per gift in the last 12 months.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not record centrally the gifts that it makes with a value less than £300,000. Consequently, details of these gifts could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Parliament is notified of any gifts above £300,000. Such gifts are typically of items of equipment we might provide to friendly countries.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Departmental Responsibilities

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance.

Alok Sharma: The Foreign & Commonwealth Office's Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance is generally considered to be a global standard for the screening of overseas activities for unintended human rights risk. It is a tool that allows the Government to assist countries struggling to protect human rights, while also ensuring that British assistance does not inadvertently worsen the situation. Officials are currently considering changes to the guidance, drawing on five years of experience of application to improve it further. We would like to make it easier for all parts of Government with a role to play overseas to collaborate to produce the best possible assessments of risk and the strongest possible mitigations of those risks. These changes will not in any way increase our level of tolerance of the risk of causing human rights violations. We will inform Parliament when Ministers have considered what changes might be made.

UN Human Rights Council

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that arbitrary revocation of citizenship is on the agenda for the next session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Alok Sharma: The UK does not intend to press for this topic to be considered at the March 2017 session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), as the HRC traditionally considers the issue of the deprivation of nationality at its June session, on either an annual or biennial basis. The most recent resolution on the topic of arbitrary deprivation of nationality was adopted by consensus at the June 2016 session of the HRC. The text of the resolution calls upon States to refrain from taking discriminatory measures and from enacting or maintaining legislation that would arbitrarily deprive persons of their nationality on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, including disability, especially if such measures and legislation render a person stateless. It also urges States to adopt and implement nationality legislation with a view to avoiding statelessness, consistent with the principles of international law, in particular by preventing the arbitrary deprivation of nationality and statelessness as a result of State succession.

UN Human Rights Council

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that the juvenile death penalty is on the agenda for the next session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Alok Sharma: A resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty was adopted by the UN's Third Committee on 17 November and will be considered by the UN General Assembly in December. The United Kingdom does not intend to press for this topic to be considered at the March 2017 session of the Human Rights Council (HRC).The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is clear that "Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age." Execution of those who committed crimes when juveniles is therefore forbidden by international human rights law. We oppose the death penalty and encourage other states to follow suit.

Iraq: Minority Groups

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies on provision of support for Iraqi security forces of recent attacks on Shi'as and other and other religious minorities.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK commends the progress of Iraqi security forces in reclaiming territory from Daesh, including in the continuing operation to liberate Mosul. We recognise their bravery and sacrifice. The UK continues to support them in this effort. We are providing close air support and crucial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to target Daesh's communications, command and control, and infrastructure. As of 17 November, the RAF has carried out 1071 airstrikes in Iraq – the second highest number behind the US. We have also gifted counter-IED equipment, over 50 tonnes of non-lethal support such as body armour and medical supplies, 40 heavy machine guns, ammunition and around £600,000 worth of military equipment to help Iraqi forces in the fight against Daesh.We condemn in the strongest terms Daesh's cowardly terrorist attacks on innocent civilians, regardless of the religious or ethnic background of those targeted, including the killing of over 75 Shia pilgrims on 24 November near Hilla. The Iraqi security forces are working to prevent such attacks. Ultimately, the only way to protect civilians and safeguard minority communities in Iraq is to defeat Daesh and deliver national reconciliation. The UK will continue to strongly support Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi and his government in their efforts to deliver the political reform and reconciliation needed to unite all of Iraq's people against extremism.

Israel: Palestinians

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage the resumption of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK Government believes a negotiated two-state solution is in the firm interests of both Israel and the Palestinians. We are working through international organisations, including the UN and EU, to encourage both sides to take steps that rebuild trust - crucial for negotiations to succeed. Arab states also have a key role in the peace process and we are discussing with them ways we can move the situation forward. And we are in contact with the French about their initiative, launched in January, aimed at securing progress in the situation.But whilst we are doing all we can, ultimately peace will only come through negotiations between the parties. It is critical that Israel and the Palestinians take advantage of any momentum gathered through international efforts.

Syria: International Assistance

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his international counterparts on coordinating the delivery of aid to the city of Aleppo; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: ​The Foreign Secretary has discussed our deep concerns about the appalling humanitarian situation with Secretary Kerry and other key partners on a regular basis, including when he hosted a meeting in London on 16 October. The Prime Minister discussed the situation in Aleppo with the leaders of the US, Germany, Italy, France, Spain when she attended a summit in Berlin on 18 November. The Foreign Secretary asked the Russian Foreign Minister on 22 November to use his influence with the Syrian regime to let aid into Aleppo. Our Ambassador to the United Nations has repeated these message in the UN, most recently during the UK and French called emergency session of the Security Council on 30 November. The opposition have agreed the UN's four point plan for Aleppo. The regime needs to also. They could do this in a moment.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department's most recent estimate is of the number of civilian casualties across Syria since the conflict began; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: ​It is difficult to obtain precise figures about casualties in Syria. In a stark demonstration of the extent of the tragedy, the UN ceased issuing casualty figures in 2014. UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura estimated in April 2016 that 400,000 people had been killed in the conflict. The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that 203,000 civilians had been killed between March 2011 and November 2016 and that 92% of them were victims of the Asad regime.

Pakistan: Capital Punishment

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he raised the issue of the death penalty and executions of mentally ill prisoners and those arrested for non-violent drug offences on his recent trip to Pakistan.

Alok Sharma: The UK remains firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. Abolitionist work is high on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) agenda and is part of the day-to-day work of all diplomatic missions to countries that retain the death penalty. The FCO Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015 makes clear our views on the death penalty and the resumption of executions in Pakistan.During his visit to Pakistan in November, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), raised our human rights concerns and the importance we attach to upholding the rule of law. We continue to raise our concerns about the death penalty with the government of Pakistan and urge compliance with its international obligations.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Public Appointments

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the (a) public appointments and (b) periods of service of Deep Sagar.

Ben Gummer: Individual departments are responsible for making public appointments to the boards of their arms length bodies.There is no central list of public appointees, however all appointments made by Ministers are made public on gov.uk.

Government Departments: Cybercrime

Jim McMahon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many cyber-security breaches government departments recorded that involved Ransomware viruses in the last 12 months for which data is available.

Ben Gummer: For security reasons the Government does not comment on specific details of cyber security attacks. We are continuously monitoring and managing the security risks to all HMG systems.Sixty-eight cyber incidents from all types of organisations were voluntarily reported to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in its first month of operation (1-31 October 2016). These incidents vary in scale, nature and target. Seven of these were reported ransomware incidents.In November, the Government published its new National Cyber Security Strategy. This Strategy is supported by £1.9billion of transformational investment. The Strategy sets out ambitious policies to protect the UK in cyber space. The strategy will deliver policies and capabilities, building on three core pillars to: defend our people, businesses and assets across the public and private sectors; deter and disrupt our adversaries- states, criminals and hacktivists; develop critical capabilities to build skills, support growth and stimulate science and technology.

Public Sector: Procurement

Justin Madders: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to prioritise domestically-produced vehicles in public sector procurement after the UK leaves the EU.

Ben Gummer: The Government car fleet does include vehicles manufactured in the UK, such as the Jaguar XJ. However, public sector procurers are required to seek value for money through fair and open competition and in line with our current international obligations. The current public procurement rules will continue to apply until the UK has left the EU following the successful conclusion of exit negotiations. The longer-term options for our procurement regulations are being considered carefully.

Government Departments: Procurement

Dawn Butler: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what procurement policies are in place when issuing government contracts.

Ben Gummer: The overriding procurement policy requirement is that all public procurement must be based on value for money, defined as ‘the best mix of quality and effectiveness for the least outlay over the period of use of the goods or services bought’. This should be achieved through competition, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary.Public sector procurement is subject to a legal framework that encourages free and open competition and value for money, in line with internationally and nationally agreed obligations and regulations. As part of its strategy, the government aligns procurement policies with this legal framework, as well as with its wider policy objectives:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-sector-procurement-policy

Constituencies

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2016 to Question 54390, how many civil servants are employed full-time in support of the 2018 boundary review; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Skidmore: Following laws passed by Parliament, the independent and impartial Boundary Commissions are currently consulting on their proposals to deliver the Boundary Review, and their final proposals will be shared with Parliament in autumn 2018. These reforms will ensure fair and equal representation for the voting public across the United Kingdom by the next general election, and also delivers on the Government’s manifesto pledge to reduce the size of the Commons which will save an estimated £66 million over the course of a Parliament.Equalising the size of constituencies in the Boundary Review will ensure everyone’s vote will carry equal weight. Without such boundary reforms, MPs could end up representing constituencies based on data that is over 20 years’ old, disregarding significant changes in demographics, house building and migration. As it stands, some constituencies have twice as many electors than other constituencies and this cannot be right.The four Boundary Commissions are between them currently employing a total of 32 staff (full-time equivalent) on the conduct of the Boundary Review. The four Boundary Commissions have, to date, spent approximately £2.3 million on the conduct of the current Boundary Review. This is money which would be wasted under the Labour Party’s proposals to try to block and delay this independent Review (as per the divisions of 18 November 2016, Official Report, Columns 563-666).

Department for Exiting the European Union

Shipping: UK Trade with EU

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU Single Market on the UK shipping industry.

Mr David Jones: We are working closely with the shipping industry to understand the challenges and opportunities that leaving the EU could bring. On 16 November the Secretary of State for Transport held a roundtable with representatives from the sector, attended by Lord Bridges, in order to hear their views. The Department for Exiting the European Union, working with officials across government, continues to undertake a wide range of data analysis covering the entirety of the UK economy. We are looking at over 50 sectors as well as cross-cutting regulatory issues, which will naturally cover the UK shipping industry. This will inform the UK's position for the upcoming negotiations with our EU partners.The UK is an island nation with an outstanding maritime heritage. The maritime sector today is vast, strong and competitive. This is not going to change when we leave the EU.

Health Services and Social Services

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if he will make time available for hon. Members to debate the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on health and social care.

Mr David Jones: The Prime Minister has consistently made clear that Parliament will of course be involved in helping to shape the UK’s future as we leave the European Union. That will include a series of debates.The Department for Exiting the European Union is working closely with the Department of Health to build a detailed understanding of how withdrawing from the EU will affect health and social care.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Recruitment

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what his Department's budget is for hiring staff needed to facilitate the negotiations to leave the EU in 2016-17.

Mr David Jones: The Department for Exiting the European Union is properly resourced. The Autumn Statement announced additional funding of up to £51m in 2016-17 and up to £94m p.a. from 2017-18 until the UK’s exit is complete. The Department for Exiting the European Union now has just over 300 staff, and is growing fast.The full budget for the Department will be presented to Parliament at the Supplementary Estimate in the New Year as is standard practice.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average number of children with special educational needs and disabilities attending non-selective schools is in (a) partially selective, (b) fully selective and (c) non-selective local education authority areas.

Nick Gibb: The table below shows the total number and percentage of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) attending non-selective schools by local authority:Pupils with Special Educational Needs in Non-selective schools 1,2,3 broken down by Local Authority selective status4,5,6January 2016 By Local Authority area in England  Non-Selective schools1,2,3 LA CodeLA NameTotal PupilsTotal pupils with SEN Number% 7Fully selective Local Authority4   E09000004303Bexley38,0785,87615.4 E09000029319Sutton30,6404,13113.5 E08000009358Trafford32,1004,88815.2 E10000002825Buckinghamshire66,7748,52112.8 E06000039871Slough24,8513,97616.0 E06000027880Torbay16,4913,31120.1 E06000033882Southend-on-Sea24,2083,15613.0 E10000016886Kent190,67526,42213.9 E06000035887Medway38,5537,25618.8 E10000019925Lincolnshire90,88115,56917.1 E08000015344Wirral42,5827,92918.6 E06000029836Poole16,8972,96017.5Partially selective Local Authority5   E09000003302Barnet53,2167,51814.1 E09000006305Bromley47,1756,37213.5 E09000010308Enfield55,8937,63113.7 E09000021314Kingston upon Thames22,3982,57811.5 E09000026317Redbridge53,2506,77912.7 E08000025330Birmingham185,80432,71017.6 E08000030335Walsall47,4266,21713.1 E08000031336Wolverhampton40,2836,81716.9 E08000012341Liverpool68,66912,24217.8 E08000033381Calderdale33,9265,41015.9 E08000034382Kirklees64,8827,58511.7 E10000023815North Yorkshire79,6478,76911.0 E06000028837Bournemouth20,6073,09415.0 E06000021861Stoke-on-Trent36,4755,76015.8 E06000054865Wiltshire64,84710,06715.5 E06000038870Reading19,3912,69613.9 E10000008878Devon95,57616,38217.1 E06000026879Plymouth35,5476,05717.0 E10000012881Essex199,04326,54913.3 E10000017888Lancashire162,72219,40311.9 E06000020894Telford and Wrekin26,5195,08919.2 E10000006909Cumbria68,1909,91114.5 E10000013916Gloucestershire78,40812,09715.4 E10000031937Warwickshire74,65411,00514.7Non-selective Local Authority6   E06000005841Darlington16,0132,48315.5 E06000047840Durham70,92510,18114.4 E08000020390Gateshead28,3654,22214.9 E06000001805Hartlepool15,2392,11113.9 E06000002806Middlesbrough23,5393,96516.8 E08000021391Newcastle upon Tyne38,5466,13615.9 E08000022392North Tyneside30,6044,11413.4 E06000048929Northumberland46,1047,17115.6 E06000003807Redcar and Cleveland21,6674,06618.8 E08000023393South Tyneside21,3374,37720.5 E06000004808Stockton-on-Tees30,5144,52814.8 E08000024394Sunderland40,2626,08115.1 E06000008889Blackburn with Darwen26,1674,86818.6 E06000009890Blackpool18,8053,04916.2 E08000001350Bolton48,1466,83414.2 E08000002351Bury28,9094,61816.0 E06000049895Cheshire East51,6714,6559.0 E06000050896Cheshire West and Chester47,9226,77214.1 E06000006876Halton18,8042,95915.7 E08000011340Knowsley20,2754,60922.7 E08000003352Manchester80,23411,97914.9 E08000004353Oldham42,7475,96113.9 E08000005354Rochdale34,0454,56313.4 E08000006355Salford34,4986,34918.4 E08000014343Sefton40,1224,34710.8 E08000013342St. Helens25,7034,65918.1 E08000007356Stockport39,9465,41213.5 E08000008357Tameside35,5634,60012.9 E06000007877Warrington31,9514,52414.2 E08000010359Wigan45,9256,73814.7 E08000016370Barnsley32,9814,72514.3 E08000032380Bradford98,12515,99116.3 E08000017371Doncaster47,6815,47711.5 E06000011811East Riding of Yorkshire45,4285,68512.5 E06000010810Kingston Upon Hull, City of38,2666,55417.1 E08000035383Leeds117,77016,20713.8 E06000012812North East Lincolnshire23,3412,61611.2 E06000013813North Lincolnshire23,9613,34314.0 E08000018372Rotherham43,9756,89415.7 E08000019373Sheffield78,46612,88316.4 E08000036384Wakefield51,2997,34114.3 E06000014816York24,6352,69410.9 E06000015831Derby41,4646,90816.7 E10000007830Derbyshire106,19114,81514.0 E06000016856Leicester53,2268,31615.6 E10000018855Leicestershire95,08411,52512.1 E10000021928Northamptonshire112,04912,52511.2 E06000018892Nottingham44,0286,66915.1 E10000024891Nottinghamshire117,42110,3628.8 E06000017857Rutland5,67672912.8 E08000026331Coventry54,1588,73416.1 E08000027332Dudley47,2437,91416.8 E06000019884Herefordshire23,0584,08917.7 E08000028333Sandwell56,9189,40616.5 E06000051893Shropshire38,0224,89912.9 E08000029334Solihull38,2175,55014.5 E10000028860Staffordshire120,50014,59912.1 E10000034885Worcestershire78,19612,20115.6 E06000055822Bedford27,4663,68913.4 E06000056823Central Bedfordshire42,3545,83413.8 E10000003873Cambridgeshire82,96211,59914.0 E10000015919Hertfordshire189,44625,10013.2 E06000032821Luton36,9015,55915.1 E10000020926Norfolk111,61516,90615.1 E06000031874Peterborough35,0355,35715.3 E10000029935Suffolk100,86212,32612.2 E06000034883Thurrock26,9373,66113.6 E09000007202Camden22,2233,48315.7 E09000001201City of London2504718.8 E09000012204Hackney33,9896,31218.6 E09000013205Hammersmith and Fulham19,8713,27416.5 E09000014309Haringey37,3306,33117.0 E09000019206Islington24,3694,52418.6 E09000020207Kensington and Chelsea12,2181,59013.0 E09000022208Lambeth36,6776,56917.9 E09000023209Lewisham41,2576,64516.1 E09000025316Newham58,6198,48414.5 E09000028210Southwark40,8826,92316.9 E09000030211Tower Hamlets43,2027,36017.0 E09000032212Wandsworth32,7956,03318.4 E09000033213Westminster22,5353,99417.7 E09000002301Barking and Dagenham41,6875,81714.0 E09000005304Brent47,9196,32213.2 E09000008306Croydon56,9208,13514.3 E09000009307Ealing53,0227,44314.0 E09000011203Greenwich40,9396,50915.9 E09000015310Harrow35,0114,20312.0 E09000016311Havering38,3293,4068.9 E09000017312Hillingdon51,0497,07613.9 E09000018313Hounslow41,6827,21617.3 E09000024315Merton28,7274,53615.8 E09000027318Richmond upon Thames25,8303,22712.5 E09000031320Waltham Forest42,3467,78818.4 E06000036867Bracknell Forest17,5642,35613.4 E06000043846Brighton and Hove32,0246,13519.2 E10000011845East Sussex65,6458,32412.7 E10000014850Hampshire172,06623,47913.6 E06000046921Isle of Wight16,8182,85117.0 E06000042826Milton Keynes45,1286,18613.7 E10000025931Oxfordshire91,68412,43113.6 E06000044851Portsmouth24,9913,83715.4 E06000045852Southampton30,3805,92219.5 E10000030936Surrey150,96020,80913.8 E06000037869West Berkshire25,7053,46213.5 E10000032938West Sussex109,65017,75216.2 E06000040868Windsor and Maidenhead21,0103,12214.9 E06000041872Wokingham25,3533,01611.9 E06000022800Bath and North East Somerset26,1573,57113.7 E06000023801Bristol, City of55,7958,42915.1 E06000052908Cornwall71,1819,53613.4 E10000009835Dorset55,1018,76315.9 E06000053420Isles of Scilly2793813.6 E06000024802North Somerset29,5753,41811.6 E10000027933Somerset68,6149,60714.0 E06000025803South Gloucestershire39,0115,43613.9 E06000030866Swindon32,5585,30416.3   Source: School Census (1) Includes middle schools as deemed.(2) Includes all academies, including free schools.(3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools and special academies.  (4) Local Authority has 25% or more of pupils in selective schools.(5) Local Authority has at least one selective schools.(6) Local Authority has no selective schools.(7) Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1.

Grammar Schools

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which single and multi-academy trusts currently run a grammar school.

Nick Gibb: As at 1st October there are 108 single-academy trusts running a grammar school and 29 multi-academy trusts running at least one grammar school. The list of trusts is provided in the table attached.



List of trusts
(Excel SpreadSheet, 41 KB)

Academies: Sports

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people who graduated into paid jobs within sport attended football or other sports academies for 16 to 19 year olds which received funding from the public purse in the last three years.

Robert Halfon: The Department for Education does not hold this information.

Academies: Sports

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much public funding has been allocated to each (a) football and (b) other sports academy for 16 to 19 year olds in each of the last three years; and how many participants dropped out of those academies in each of the last three years.

Robert Halfon: The Department for Education funds sports provision in a wide range of schools, colleges and other providers. The Department does not directly fund any football or other sport academies, but it does fund League Football Education and the FA Premier League Limited for delivery of education and training in association with football clubs. Some education and training linked to football clubs is also delivered through sub-contracting arrangements with funded institutions. The Department does not hold information on the numbers of students who drop out from sports academies. The Department currently funds 16 to 19 provision in 36 schools and academies that have sports as a specialism and are identified as such in their title. The allocations to those schools and academies, along with the allocations for all other 16 to 19 provision, are published online at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2016-to-2017-academic-yearhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2016-to-2017 Most students enrolled on sports provision are enrolled on general qualifications that are not specific to any particular sport.

Academies: Sports

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which sports academies for 16 to 19 year olds which are not football academies have received funding from the public purse in the last three years; how much funding each such academy has received; how many participants each such academy has had; and which sports each such academy represented.

Robert Halfon: The Department for Education funds sports provision in a wide range of schools, colleges and other providers. The Department does not directly fund any football or other sport academies, but it does fund League Football Education and the FA Premier League Limited for delivery of education and training in association with football clubs. Some education and training linked to football clubs is also delivered through sub-contracting arrangements with funded institutions. The Department does not hold information on the numbers of students who drop out from sports academies. The Department currently funds 16 to 19 provision in 36 schools and academies that have sports as a specialism and are identified as such in their title. The allocations to those schools and academies, along with the allocations for all other 16 to 19 provision, are published online at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2016-to-2017-academic-yearhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2016-to-2017 Most students enrolled on sports provision are enrolled on general qualifications that are not specific to any particular sport.

Academies: Football

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguarding systems have been used in football and other sports academies for 16 to 19 year olds which have received funding from the public purse in the last three years; who has responsibility for such systems at (a) local, (b) regional and (c) national level; and how much funding such academies have received from the public purse in the last three years.

Robert Halfon: Safeguarding and child protection duties and powers sit with the education provider and the local authority or authorities where the student resides and studies, the police and other agencies. The Secretary of State for Education has the general duty to promote the wellbeing of children in England under section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008. We cannot comment on the precise safeguarding systems used by individual providers. We do, however, require all funded providers for 16-18 to be compliant with legislation and regulation in respect of students’ health and safety. Colleges are explicitly referenced in ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, the statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment. Our Contract for Services with Charitable and Commercial Providers requires them to be compliant with the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and to have regard to guidance from the Secretary of State on safeguarding practice. We can take action in cases of non-compliance. Where provision is delivered through a subcontracting arrangement with a third party, the Education Funding Agency is clear that safeguarding arrangements remain the responsibility of the directly funded provider. This is set out in the subcontracting control regulations that form part of our funding guidance, with which all directly funded providers are required to comply.

Academies: Football

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many football academies for 16 to 19 year olds which have received funding from the public purse in the last three years have been closed down (a) mid-term and (b) at the end of the academic year after inspection.

Robert Halfon: The Department for Education funds League Football Education for the delivery of education and training in association with football clubs. It does not directly fund any other football academies and so does not have records of any that may have closed down. Some education and training linked to football clubs is delivered through sub-contracting arrangements with schools, colleges and other providers. The Department monitors sub-contracting arrangements closely to ensure they are compliant with published policy funding regulations and funding agreements.

Children in Care

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to support people leaving care.

Edward Timpson: In July 2016, we published the refreshed cross-government care leaver strategy ‘Keep on Caring’. It set out the five outcomes that we want to achieve for care leavers, that they: are better prepared to live independently; are supported to access education, employment and training; experience stability and feel safe and secure; have good health and wellbeing; and achieve financial stability. ’Keep on Caring’ is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keep-on-caring-supporting-young-people-from-care-to-independence Through the Children and Social Work Bill we are introducing a set of corporate parenting principles that will govern how local authorities deliver services to children in care and care leavers, placing a new requirement on local authorities to consult on and publish their local offer for care leavers; and we are extending the role of the Personal Advisor to age 25 for all care leavers. In addition, we are developing the Care Leaver Covenant to encourage the whole of society to support care leavers. We have also announced plans to pilot Staying Close, as an alternative to Staying Put for young people leaving residential care; and we will develop Social Impact Bonds focused on supporting care leavers into education, employment and training.

Social Services: Children

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent work the Children's Social Care Innovation Programme has undertaken; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of that programme.

Edward Timpson: This Government is committed to radically reforming the children’s social care system to ensure the most vulnerable children can fulfil their potential. The Innovation Programme is at the heart of this. In its first two years the Innovation Programme invested £110million in 53 projects operating across 59% of all top-tier local authorities and involving over 120 public, private and voluntary sector organisations to test new approaches in children’s social care. Evaluation is central to the Innovation Programme to build a strong evidence base of what works to improve outcomes for children. Independent project evaluation reports, co-ordinated by Oxford University’s Rees Centre, will be published over the next few months, with programme-wide thematic reports in summer 2017. In April, we committed a further £200million to support innovation and improvement in children’s social care. We have recently announced funding to scale up a number of projects that have shown early signs of success, including for Pause to expand their programme supporting women to break the cycle of repeat pregnancy and social care interventions.

Cedar Mount Academy

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for School Standards on 8 November 2016, on the performance of Cedar Mount, Official Report, col 1447, when she plans to write to the hon. Member for Manchester Central to advise what action the Government is taking to address the underperformance of Cedar Mount Academy, run by Bright Futures multi-academy trust.

Edward Timpson: Vicky Beer, the Regional Schools Commissioner for Lancashire and West Yorkshire, has met Bright Futures Educational Trust on a number of occasions to discuss the progress that has been to improve the performance of Cedar Mount. She is meeting them again before Christmas and I will write to you following that meeting.

Postgraduate Education: Loans

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many offers of postgraduate loans have been withdrawn as a consequence of errors attributed to the Student Loans Company in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Joseph Johnson: The Government has introduced a new postgraduate master’s degree loan to eligible students for the Academic Year 2016/17. The loan scheme makes £10,000 available to eligible students as a contribution towards the costs of their study and can be used for tuition fees or living costs.Data provided by the Student Loans Company (SLC) shows that 109 postgraduate students who were offered the new loan have had that offer withdrawn. Regrettably these students were assessed in error as eligible for the loan product, and were then subsequently re-assessed as ineligible.

Higher Education: Qualifications

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many universities issued Certificates of Higher Education in each of the last six years.

Joseph Johnson: Information on student enrolments and qualifications obtained at UK higher education institutions (HEIs) is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Statistics on HEIs with one or more qualifiers obtaining Certificates of Higher Education have been provided in the table.Institutions with qualifiers obtaining Certificates of Higher Education UK higher education institutionsAcademic years 2009/10 to 2014/15 Academic YearHigher Education Institutions2009/101342010/111392011/121322012/131342013/141352014/15133Source: HESA Student Record

Teachers: Training

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many UCAS applications have been received for teaching courses in (a) primary and (b) secondary education for admission in the academic year 2017-18; and how many such applications were received at the same point in the admissions cycle for (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16 and (iii) 2016-17.

Joseph Johnson: The Department does not publish data on UCAS applications. UCAS report monthly data on recruitment to Initial Teacher Training, which for 2016/17 and historical recruitment can be found on their website at:https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-teacher-training-releases

Pre-school Education: Standards

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children attending (a) maintained nursery schools, (b) nursery classes in schools, (c) private, voluntary or independent nursery settings and (d) childminders achieved (i) a good level of development, (ii) at least the expected level of development and (iii) below the expected level of development measured according to the early years foundation stage in each year for which data is available.

Caroline Dinenage: On 20 October, the department published the early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP) results for the 2015 to 2016 academic year, at national and local authority level. The EYFSP results are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2015-to-2016However, in regards to the proportion of children achieving each level of development at the various types of settings, I’m afraid this information is not readily available and could be compiled only at a disproportionate cost.

Pre-school Education: Standards

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the lowest 20 per cent of children by attainment at the early years foundation stage are in each (a) region and (b) local authority.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities did not improve their early years foundation stage results in 2016 relative to their 2015 results.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the development gap at pre-school between children and their peers measured by the early years foundation stage (a) nationally, (b) regionally and (c) by local authority in the latest period for which data is available.

Caroline Dinenage: On 20 October, the department published the early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP) results for the 2015 to 2016 academic year, at national and local authority level. At a national level, 69.3% of children achieved a good level of development (GLD), which is an increase of 3 percentage points on 2015. The same trend was seen in the percentage achieving at least the expected level across all early learning goals, which has increased by 3.2 percentage points from 2015. The EYFSP results are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2015-to-2016.Information about the proportion of the lowest 20 per cent of children by attainment in each (a) region and (b) local authority is not readily available. However, we know that 18.6% of young children achieved a score of 29 or lower in the EYFSP 2016 results, and 21.5% of young children achieved a score of 30 or less. Therefore, we have provided this information (broken down by region and local authority) in an attachment to this response.In relation to which local authorities did not improve their EYFSP results in 2016 compared to 2015, this information is available by using the ‘Year’ filter within Table 1 of the Main Tables via the link provided above.The government publishes the EYFSP results at national and local authority level, and provides a commentary on the data at a national level via the Statistical First Release (SFR), which is available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/561224/SFR50_2016_Text.pdf. The government is taking further steps to understand the regional attainment gap. In May 2016, the department commissioned a feasibility study to investigate the regional gap in early years at age 5, including recommendations to undertake a further study through longitudinal analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study to assess variation in attainment and evaluate the potential drivers of a regional gap.



Early Years foundation stage profile results 2016
(Excel SpreadSheet, 27.37 KB)

Ministry of Justice

Small Claims

Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average turnaround time was between receipt of a claim form by the County Court Money Claims Centre and that form being returned to the issuing solicitors in (a) October 2016, (b) September 2016 and (c) the 6 months to September 2016.

Sir Oliver Heald: Confirmation of claims are automatically issued, or to the issuing solicitor if they have asked to issue the claim themselves within the average timescales below. The average turnaround times between receipt of a claim form by the County Court Money Claims Centre and confirmation to the claimant were: Elapsed time between claim being received at the County Court Money Claims Centre and a claim confirmation being issued to the claimant. Average working daysClaims issued during October 20166.8Claims issued during September 20165.6Claims issued during April 2016-Sept. 20165.8

Personal Injury: Compensation

Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons personal injury claims have to be sent to the County Court Money Claims Centre in Salford by post.

Sir Oliver Heald: Claims for an unspecified amount of money are processed by the County Court Money Claims Centre in Salford. The Money Claim Online service can be used for specified claims only. Personal injury claims for a specified amount of money under £100,000 can be processed on the money claim online system if the claimant chooses.

Community Rehabilitation Companies

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, to what extent contracts between her Department and community rehabilitation companies are dependent on offenders under supervision completing their orders.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Community Rehabilitation Companies are paid on the basis of volumes of offenders entering the system, reducing reoffending and services provided for offenders not allocated to them. Performance metrics capture data and information on offenders completing their orders. Should they fail to meet the level required, funds can be recovered to compensate for the reduced provision in service.

Community Rehabilitation Companies

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the (a) estimated number of offenders to be allocated to community rehabilitation companies and (b) actual number of offenders so referred have an effect on the overall contract price.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Community Rehabilitation Companies are paid according to the predicted volume of services they will be required to provide in a year. Payments are then adjusted at the end of the year to reflect actual volumes working within agreed contractual volume bands.

Judges: Public Appointments

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time district judges are appointed to sit in magistrates' courts on criminal cases.

Sir Oliver Heald: On 1 April 2016, there were 133 District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) and 101 Deputy District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) in post: all are eligible to hear criminal cases. These are the most recent official statistics. This Government values the judiciary greatly. A strong, independent judiciary is essential for a modern, democratic society and we do not take for granted the central role judges play in upholding the rule of law and delivering justice. Our judges and magistrates are rightly held in high regard around the world. Magistrate remains a sought after role and competition for vacancies tends to be strong.

Community Rehabilitation Companies

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the number of offenders breached by a community rehabilitation company affects the total amount paid by her Department in a given financial year to that company.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the number of offenders (a) breached and (b) who have their orders terminated for good progess affects the amount paid in a contractual year to a community rehabilitation company.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Community Rehabilitation Companies are measured on the proportion of offenders who successfully complete their Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order. The measure provides assurance that sentences are being delivered in their entirety and encourages CRCs to proactively work with offenders throughout to prevent them reoffending or breaching the order. If a CRC fails to meet the required performance, we can require the CRC to pay a Service Credit to recompense for the minimum level of loss or damage as a result of a reduced provision of services. The application of Service Credits is a standard part of our contract management process. The number of offenders who have breached and not completed their Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order can result in a Service Credit being applied. Early completion of orders for good progress does not affect payment.

Magistrates: Resignations

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates have resigned their position (a) in 2016, (b) in 2015 and (c) since 2010.

Sir Oliver Heald: The requested information is provided below. Figures are compiled by financial year. (a) Since 1st April 2016 to date, there have been 842 resignations(b) During the financial year 2015/16, there were 952 resignations(c) Since 1st April 2010 to date, there were 8,253 resignationsThis Government values the judiciary greatly. A strong, independent judiciary is essential for a modern, democratic society and we do not take for granted the central role judges play in upholding the rule of law and delivering justice. Our judges and magistrates are rightly held in high regard around the world. Magistrate remains a sought after role and competition for vacancies tends to be strong.

Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU)

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans she has to ensure that rights guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights are retained after the UK leaves the EU.

Sir Oliver Heald: The UK has a proud tradition of respect for human rights which long pre-dates the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Government will consider the application of fundamental rights law as part of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. As the Prime Minister has stated, we will not be setting out unilateral positions in advance of these negotiations.

Immigration: Appeals

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking in conjunction with HM Courts and Tribunals Service to reduce the length of time taken to grant hearing dates for accepted immigration appeals.

Sir Oliver Heald: We do everything we can to avoid unnecessary delay in the Immigration & Asylum Tribunal and we have provided an additional 4,950 tribunal sitting days for this financial year to ensure current case loads do not increase. We are keeping performance under close review and are confident there is sufficient capacity to deal with the number of appeals we expect to receive.

Employment Tribunals Service: Minimum Wage

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases brought before employment tribunals have been related to minimum wage claims in (a) Bradford, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) England in each year since 2008.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases have been brought before employment tribunals in (a) Bradford, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) England in each year since 2008.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women have brought cases before employment tribunals in (a) Bradford, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) England in each year since 2008.

Sir Oliver Heald: HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) do not record the number of claims broken down by gender. Information on the total number of employment tribunal receipts in England, and the North East region, and the number of those specifically related to the national minimum wage jurisdiction, from 2012, can be found on gov.uk. This equivalent information for the years 2008 - 2012 for the number of Minimum Wage claims received in the North East region and in England is provided in the table below. Number of Jurisdictional claims for Minimum Wage received for North East Region and England.Financial YearNorth East RegionEngland2008-09555542009-101675342010-11474322011-1260440Source: Internal management information. The equivalent data for the number of all ET claims received between 2008 - 2012 in the North East region and in England can be seen in the table below. Total Employment Tribunal Accepted Claims by Case for North East Region and England.Financial YearNorth East RegionEngland2008-0928,485119,1462009-1028,099203,5672010-1128,089193,0662011-1218,738163,741Source: Internal management information. The published statistics does not provide information below the regional level. Note: The NE region covers Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham, Cleveland, Yorkshire and Humber.

Leader of the House

e-Petitions

Jim Shannon: To ask the Leader of the House, what steps his Department is taking to assess potential changes to the system for e-petitions to ensure petitions submitted have evidential basis.

Mr David Lidington: The Parliamentary e-petitions site is jointly owned by the Government and the House of Commons, therefore any assessment of potential changes to the system would have to be agreed between the Government and the House.I have not had any discussions to assess such changes to the e-petitions system, however the hon. Member may find it reassuring to know that all petitions submitted are moderated by the staff of the Petitions Committee before being published and opened for signing by the public. The Committee staff ensure that all petitions adhere to the agreed standards which are clearly displayed on petition.parliament.uk. The final decision on the admissibility of an e-petition rests with the Petitions Committee itself.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

BBC Radio

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with the BBC Trust on proposals to tender 60 per cent of BBC radio production; and if she will make a statement.

Matt Hancock: The requirements for the BBC to offer 60% of eligible radio hours for competition by 2022 reflects the terms of an agreement reached between BBC and the Radio Independents Group (RIG) and was announced by the BBC in June 2015.

Tourism: Scotland

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase the level of tourism from the US to Scotland in 2017.

Tracey Crouch: In 2015, there were just over 400,000 visits by US residents to Scotland, with a total spend of £390.9 million. Although tourism is devolved, Visit Britain work with Visit Scotland to promote the whole of the UK overseas. This includes a £10m, three year marketing partnership with Expedia, which is specifically aimed at the US market. Additionally, the Prime Minister's Tourism Action Plan is working to encourage visitors to explore the whole of the UK and grow the industry as a whole.

European Telecommunications Standards Institute

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether it is her policy that the UK will retain membership of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute after exiting the EU.

Matt Hancock: The European Telecommunications Standards Institute, ETSI, is a technical standards organisation that generates globally used standards in telecommunications and other parts of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industries. It is not an EU based body, so UK Involvement in ETSI will not change.

Historic Buildings

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what applications she has received in the last five years in relation to Historic England list entries 1244757 (Building 37), 1244758 (Former Armoury), 1244759 (Former Artillery Barracks), 1244761 (Building 57, Former Cavalry Barracks), 1244762 (Former Hospital Building), 1244763 (Former Infantry Barracks), 1244764 (Former Officers Quarters and Mess), 1244765 (Former Sick Horse Infirmary), 1244766 (Keep), 1244767 (North Perimeter Wall Extending Approximately 150 metres along North End of Fulwood Barracks), 1244768 (Racquet Court), 1244769 (South Gate, Chapel, Offices and Museum), 1244770 (South Perimeter Wall extending approximately 50 metres along South End of Fulwood Barracks), 1244771 (The Canteen) and 1244831 (Building 32) at Fulwood Barracks, Preston.

Tracey Crouch: The Department has not received any requests during the last five years to amend or delete the entries for these buildings in the National Heritage List for England. Information concerning requests for planning permission or listed building consent relating to these buildings can be found from the relevant local planning authority.

Public Appointments

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what criteria she applies when making a decision on recommendations by Ofcom for appointments to public bodies.

Matt Hancock: The Secretary of State uses the criteria set out in the advertised job descriptions.

Channel Four Television

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what account she takes of diversity when deciding on recommendations from Ofcom on individual appointments to the board of Channel 4.

Matt Hancock: As with all public appointments, the Secretary of State focused on the criteria set out in the advertised job description when making her decision on appointments to the board of Channel 4, to ensure that the candidates had the specific skills and experiences required. We are strongly committed to ensuring diversity in all public appointments. For example in the first half of 2016/17, 50% of new DCMS appointments went to women and 18% to BAME candidates. Diversity in all its forms is an important factor taken into account when all public appointments are made.

Department for Work and Pensions

Local Housing Allowance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of the universal credit claimants who will be affected by proposed changes to local housing allowance, (a) in each region and (b) aged under 35.

Caroline Nokes: A full impact assessment will be undertaken in due course.

Department for Work and Pensions: Billing

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of payments by his Department to small businesses are made on time and in accordance with the prompt payment code.

Caroline Nokes: I can confirm that information on prompt payments to suppliers is held on the Gov.uk website – please see below link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/procurement However, the information is not held specifically for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for the child maintenance service's collect and pay service came from (a) resident and (b) non-resident parents in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15, and (iii) 2015-16; and how many children such requests related to in each of those years.

Caroline Nokes: Information on the number of cases using the collect and pay service is only available from August 2014. As at the end of March 2015, 28,600 cases were using the collect and pay service and this figure increased to 51,800 cases as at the end of March 2016. More details can be found on page 8 of the Child Maintenance Scheme quarterly summary of statistics which can be accessed online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/564183/child-maintenance-service-2012-scheme-aug-16.pdf Information on whether the request was made by the resident or the non-resident parent is not routinely collected and can only be provided at a disproportionate cost. Similarly, information on the number of children involved for parents using the Collect and Pay service specifically is not routinely collected and may only be provided at a disproportionate cost. Please note that a case may have more than one child.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the reasons are for the difference in charges incurred by a resident parent and a non-resident parent for using the Child Maintenance Service's collect and pay scheme.

Caroline Nokes: The ongoing charges ensure that both parents make a financial contribution towards the cost of using the Collect and Pay service, which remains heavily subsidized by the taxpayer. More importantly the four percent charge for the paying parent and the twenty percent charge for the non-resident parent provides an incentive to encourage them to pause and consider their options for a maintenance arrangement. For example, whether they need to use the Collect and Pay service or whether they could use Direct Pay, which has no ongoing charges.Paying Parents can avoid charges if they pay their maintenance liability on time and in full on Direct Pay. If they are compliant they cannot be forced to use the Collect and Pay service and be liable to charges.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many child maintenance service applications were made by (a) resident and (b) non-resident parents in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15, and (iii) 2015-16; and how many children were affected by such applications in each of those years.

Caroline Nokes: Information on the total number of Child Maintenance Service applications made until August 2016 can be found on page 4 of the Child Maintenance Service Experimental Statistics. The publication can be accessed online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/564183/child-maintenance-service-2012-scheme-aug-16.pdf Information on whether an application was made by the resident or non-resident parents is not gathered routinely and can only be provided at a disproportionate cost. The total number of children benefitting from the child maintenance service can be found on page 7 of the publication. Note: Figures on the children benefiting are based on cases that have contributed towards current liability in the quarter. This will be different from all applications since cases not contributing are not included.

Department for Work and Pensions: Personal Records

Mr Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's policies and procedures are for the retention and disposal of personal data such as previous addresses, telephone numbers and benefit payment records.

Caroline Nokes: The Department has clear policies and procedures in place to ensure that personal data and benefit records held by DWP are handled in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. Personal data supplied in support of an application for benefits is retained for 14 months after the claim closes, at which point it is destroyed. The retention of financial data in relation to benefit payment records is governed by HMRC policy. This data is retained for 6 years from the end of the financial year and then destroyed. Documents containing personal data which is classed as ephemeral to benefit cases are retained for 4 weeks from the date of receipt, and then destroyed.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of operations of (a) the Child Maintenance Service and (b) the Child Support Agency in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15 and (iii) 2015-16; and what the forecast operating costs are of each body in 2016-17.

Caroline Nokes: The table below reflects the direct costs of Operations, gross of income from fees and charges, and excludes corporate overheads such as IT, estate costs and other corporate services.  £ millions2013/142014/152015/162016/17ActualActualActualForecastChild Maintenance Service46.9579.45114.39135.85Child Support Agency237.71193.87136.3189.80Total284.66273.32250.70225.65

Carer's Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for carer's allowance his Department has received since 2010; and how many of those applications were (a) accepted and (b) declined.

Penny Mordaunt: From January 2010 to October 2016 the Department received 1,772,422 applications for Carer’s Allowance. However, we are unable to provide the volumes of applications accepted or declined because the data is not routinely held. The outcome of claims was initially recorded by clerical means. Following the move to a digital process, 75% of applicants are advised of probable disallowance at the point of claim and will not therefore appear on the system as a claim.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Subsidies

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much in total was paid under the Basic Payments Scheme in England in 2015 for (a) lowlands, (b) severely disadvantaged areas and (c) moorlands; and for each of those areas, how many farmers received such payments and what the (i) average payment per farmer was and (ii) maximum and minimum payments were in each English county.

George Eustice: Holding answer received on 25 November 2016



Please see the tables in the attached.



BPS 2015
(PDF Document, 207.96 KB)

Recycling

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many former waste recycling sites require site clearance; how many such sites are in Bassetlaw constituency; what the estimated cost of such clearance is (a) nationally and (b) in Bassetlaw constituency; and what the estimated timescale is for clearance of each such site.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many waste recycling sites have been vacated by their owner in 2016.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Environment Agency currently does not hold a national list of abandoned waste sites, the quantities of waste on those sites or the estimated cost of disposal.The responsibility for removing waste from abandoned sites lies with the landowner. In recent years the Environment Agency has successfully worked with a number of landlords to clear sites of abandoned waste.When all options for remediating a site have been exhausted, the Environment Agency may consider exercising its discretionary powers. It will only do this in extremely limited circumstances where there is an ongoing or immediate, significant and sustained risk to the local community.The Environment Agency is aware of two abandoned sites in the Bassetlaw constituency which it monitors on a regular basis and is actively working with the local authority, fire service and landowners of the sites to resolve the current issues.

Recycling

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many waste recycling sites have had major fires in 2016.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Environment Agency has a categorisation system for waste fires based on their impact. So far in 2016 the Environment Agency have recorded 7 fires on permitted waste facilities that it would categorise as ‘major’.

Hornets

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the invasive Asian hornet from entering the UK.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the Hon. Member for East Antrim, Sammy Wilson, on 10 October 2016, PQ UIN 47767

Dangerous Dogs

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of dog attacks on people were committed by (a) dogs prohibited under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and (b) dogs which are not prohibited under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each of the last three years.

George Eustice: Specific details of the type or breed of dog involved in attacks are not held centrally. However, information held by Defra on reported dog attacks show that nine pit bull terriers were involved in eight of the 30 total fatal dog attacks since 2005.

Flood Control

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies on flooding and land use of the Green Alliance Policy Insight of November 2016, entitled Smarter flood risk management in England.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government notes the Green Alliance report’s focus on flood prevention, including the use of natural measures and the whole catchment approach. A combination of measures are needed to manage flood risk, including upstream activities to store or slow flood waters. The current Countryside Stewardship Scheme includes land management measures that help to prevent flooding. Our exit from the EU provides an opportunity to consider how best future agriculture and environmental policy can contribute to flood risk management. The Government recently announced £15m specifically for natural flood management schemes across England. This builds on demonstration projects at Pickering in North Yorkshire, Holnicote in Somerset and Upper Derwent, Derbyshire. They demonstrated that natural measures can be effective in helping to manage flood risk at a catchment scale, slowing the flow of water and reducing local impacts when carefully incorporated into a wider suite of catchment measures, but were unlikely to offer an alternative to conventional defences in areas of greatest risk. However, we refute the assertion that twice as much is spent on dealing with the after-effects of a flood than is spent on hard flood defences. In 2014/15, the year the report is referring to with respect to hard defences, of the £802.6m spent on flood risk management, £145m was for flood response and repair costs and £657.6m for routine flood risk management measures. Moreover, in our current 6-year capital programme, we are investing £2.5 billion over six years on flood defences (up until 2021). This is a real terms increase in capital investment. We are exceeding our manifesto commitment by building 1,500 new flood defence schemes that will better protect 300,000 more homes.

Air Pollution

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reducing the limit value for particulate matter from 25g/m3 to the World Health Organisation's air quality guidelines of 10g/m3.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Latest compliance data show that the UK is meeting the EU daily and annual mean limits values for particulate matter (PM) concentrations at both PM10 and PM2.5 size categories.No specific assessment has been made of the potential merits of reducing the limit value for PM from EU limit values to the World Health Organisation air quality guidelines

Air Pollution

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria the Joint Air Quality Unit uses to allocate air quality grant funding.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The assessment criteria used by the Joint Air Quality Unit to allocate funding from the Air Quality Grant are set out in the Invitation to Apply which was provided to all eligible authorities on its launch. All applications for grant funding are subject to two stages of assessment. Applications are first assessed against six criteria: delivering air quality benefits, strategic alignment, value for money, deliverability, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge transfer. Applications which pass the first stage are then referred to a Grant board which reviews the projects against further criteria: portfolio delivery against the grant objective, balance between immediate action and strengthening the evidence base, and geographic diversity.

Rights of Way

James Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on the proposed changes in guidance for public rights of way; and from when she expects the updated version of that guidance will be effective.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Good progress has been made on drafting the various required statutory instruments and guidance, working with the Stakeholder Working Group who developed the recommendations for reform. The group produced a finely balanced package of recommendations and we want to present our work in one go because this is very much a package of recommendations. We hope to bring it forward but I am not in a position to say precisely when.

Environment Protection

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how members of the public will be able to contribute to her Department's forthcoming consultation on the 25 year plan for the environment.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Falkirk, John McNally, on 29 November 2016, PQ UIN54298.

Flood Control: Leeds City Region

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2016 to Question 54932, what the two locations are in Leeds City Region where flood defences have been returned to at least the same standard of protection that existed before the 2015 flooding.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: In interpreting this question, I have assumed the Hon. Member would like to know the two locations which have not yet been repaired to the level prior to the 2015 flooding. The first location is a culvert in Keighley where work is well-advanced to clear a blockage. The work is expected to be completed by mid-December 2016 and the Environment Agency has a contingency plan to install a temporary sandbag defence should river conditions require it before the works are complete. The second location is a leaking flood gate in York. The Environment Agency is to seal this gate permanently but the occupier of the land needs to first clear the site. The gate is expected to be sealed by mid-December 2016 but a temporary defence can be quickly installed across the gate if flooding is forecast in the meantime.

Home Office

Firearms: Smuggling

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seizures of illegal arms entering the UK there have been in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer given to the Rt. Hon. Member for Leicester East on 13 January 2016 to PQ UIN 21686.

Passports

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of UK (a) residents and (b) citizens holds a UK passport.

Mr Robert Goodwill: There are 49 million valid passports in circulation. Her Majesty’s Passport Office neither monitors the residential status of UK passport holders nor records population statistics.This data has been obtained from a live operational database. The numbers may change depending on when the data is downloaded as information on that system is updated.

Offences against Children

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces other than the Metropolitan Police (a) have been and (b) are currently being investigated by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in relation to their handling of child sexual abuse cases.

Brandon Lewis: HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) is conducting a rolling programme of unannounced National Child Protection Inspections on all police forces in England and Wales.The inspection programme aims to assess how effectively police forces safeguard children at risk, including the investigation of child sexual abuse. To date HMIC has published inspection reports for 13 forces and is conducting post-inspection reviews of forces where failings have been identified to ensure that recommendations are being addressed and performance is improving.

Foreign Investment in UK: Russia

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her Department's policies of evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee by Mr Williams Browder on 3 May 2016 on use of funds raised through criminal activity in Russia for investment in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the implications of her Department's policies of the criminal complaint into money laundering filed with the National Crime Agency on 21 March 2016 by the Hermitage Fund; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Ben Wallace: This Government is committed to attacking criminal finances and making the UK a more hostile environment for those who seek to move, hide and use the proceeds of crime and corruption.To this end, the Government published its Action Plan for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance in April 2016. In October this year, the Criminal Finances Bill, which will implement key legislative elements of the Action Plan, was introduced to Parliament.

Fire and Rescue Services: Pensions

Corri Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on plans to bring forward legislative proposals to support firefighters who joined the Firefighters Pension Scheme 1992 before the age of 20 who were required to continue paying pension contributions beyond the maximum entitlement before drawing their pension.

Brandon Lewis: The Government has brought forward legislative amendments to the 1992 Firefighters’ Pension Scheme to address this issue in England, which came into force on 30 September 2016. These amendments ensure that a firefighter who accrues maximum pensionable service in the scheme will be entitled to a pension contributions holiday until they reach the age of 50.The provision applies retrospectively to 1 December 2006 and affected firefighters may be entitled to a refund of some of their contributions. Fire and Rescue Authorities are expected to make the majority of those refund payments by the end of March 2017.The Devolved Administrations have responsibility for firefighters’ pension schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Help to Buy Scheme

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's policy is on the availability of the Help to Buy scheme for service personnel.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence launched the Forces Help to Buy Scheme (FHTB) as a pilot in April 2014. The FHTB has already successfully helped 9,000 Service personnel to join or stay on the property ladder and has recently been extended to 2018, which will enable even more of our people access to the stability that comes through home ownership.The FHTB is available to all Regular personnel who meet their Service's criteria, such as having more than six months left to serve at the time they apply and meeting the minimal medical standards.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that armed forces personnel are made aware of overseas postings available to them.

Mark Lancaster: Royal Navy Personnel can register their interest or preference on the Joint Personnel Administration system by type of employment (e.g. Local Foreign Service), geographical location (e.g. USA,) or specific job (e.g. Defence Attaché). They can also access 'Royal Navy Jobs' which lists all available posts relevant to their branch, specialisation and rank, and also wider Common Appointment roles. This indicates an approximate estimation of when the post is due to become vacant. However, the selection of personnel for particular overseas postings is delivered through routine career management.Army personnel can view and consider available opportunities via a vacancy list which is published on the Defence Intranet. In addition, soldiers have access to their Chain of Command (CoC) including their Regiment Career Management Officer (RCMO) who can provide advice on overseas postings and career implications. Officers have access to their CoC including unit Adjutants as well as their Career Managers. Overseas operational opportunities are often advertised through a trawl process where volunteers are sought for vacancies which are advertised on Part 1 Orders via the Regimental Unit Administrative Office.The Royal Air Force (RAF) utilises different methods to make personnel aware of available overseas posts, depending on whether the post is for Air or Ground personnel. When an overseas Air post needs to be filled, all suitably qualified individuals are contacted by RAF Manning via their CoC and invited to register an interest, from which the post is filled. This method works best as it is focussed on specialised areas (such as Typhoon pilots), rather than a general trawl for personnel. As there are a greater number of Ground personnel, a list of current overseas Ground vacancies is published on the Defence Intranet, which individuals can access and filter by rank to view relevant vacancies.

Armed Forces: Travel

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to assess the potential merits of making monthly flights available to family members on the same basis as for service personnel.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) provides a Northern Ireland Journeys (NIJ) allowance to assist Service personnel and any eligible accompanying immediate family with the cost of return journeys from Northern Ireland (NI) to Great Britain. The scheme aims to provide respite from the additional pressures and restrictions placed on Service personnel in NI and also to reduce familial separation.Unaccompanied Service personnel assigned to NI are entitled to twelve return passages per annum. Accompanied Service personnel and their accompanying immediate family members are entitled to three return passages. The lower entitlement for accompanied Service personnel is partially reflective of their reduced familial separation. Flexibility has recently been introduced whereby, on occasions where the Service person is unable, or chooses not to, accompany eligible accompanying immediate family members to Great Britain for family or Service reasons, they may travel at a later date. The MOD has no plans to change current NIJ entitlements.

Armed Forces: Training

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department plans to take to improve the (a) upskilling and (b) retention once upskilled of service personnel.

Mark Lancaster: Defence training produces highly skilled and effective personnel in a broad range of areas. It should be noted that the Armed Forces are the biggest provider of apprenticeships in the UK. Wherever possible, Defence intertwines this upskilling with apprenticeship schemes, ensuring individuals have evidence of their progress and their expertise is recognised within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and across industry. We are currently working with the Department for Education and HM Treasury to seize the opportunities presented by the Government's apprenticeship reforms, expanding Defence apprenticeships at the higher levels. This expansion will ensure Defence continues to offer education opportunities to match career progression, further aiding retention.A growing economy with reducing unemployment, growing numbers of job vacancies and a historical national shortage of STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), means the MOD cannot take the retention of its highly skilled Service personnel for granted. In response the Department and each of the Services have put in place a large body of retention-positive measures. These include: developing and improving employment frameworks and career structures to make the most of technical and niche-skilled personnel; improving promotion and career prospects; increasing Extensions of Service; increasing the opportunities to re-train and re-trade; improving the availability of internal transfers between Services and from Regular to Reserve; and targeted Financial Retention Incentives.In addition to these targeted measures there are also a number of programmes in place that seek to improve the general offer and the support available to all Service personnel.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support his Department gives to married service personnel who move post and location frequently.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a well-developed process to fully support Service personnel and their families, who can often be required to move location. The Services aim to give as much warning as possible, ideally six months before the impending move. When notice of a move is given, this triggers a series of administrative functions and the Service personnel will apply for Service Family Accommodation (SFA) at the new location. If possible, this will be allocated 56 days before the move to allow sufficient time for registration with schools, health providers and other capabilities within the community.The move from the current location to the new one is funded and the MOD provides a package of support, which includes leave, to allow families to settle into and explore their new home, and a financial package that compensates for the disturbance. Advice and support can be sought from many areas including the information exchange centres - HIVEs, the unit welfare staff and the Chain of Command.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support his Department gives to spouses of service personnel to help them find employment following their spouse's relocation.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that the mobile nature of Service life can create difficulties for spouses and partners of Service personnel wishing to maintain active employment and a career, especially when posted overseas. The MOD continues to work on a number of initiatives to provide job readiness and tailored employability support that focus on removing barriers that hinder spouses and partners finding employment. The Armed Forces Families Strategy, launched in January 2016, places partner employment as a priority and will look to how the MOD can influence the relationship between partner employment and the retention of Service personnel. The MOD’s Partner Employment Programme has three pillars: The Spousal Employment Support Trial – this provides tailored employment and employability support, on a two year trial basis from October 2015, and is administered by Right Management Limited as part of the wider Career Transition Partnership (CTP) Contract. The trial is currently taking place overseas in Cyprus for 240 spouses and across several Royal Air Force locations in the UK for 200 spouses. The trial is ahead of schedule for enabling 440 spouses/partners to take up the opportunity of a £879 training grant. Wolverhampton Business Start Up Programme – “Supporting the Unsung Hero” is a business start-up programme specifically designed for Armed Forces families. It provides transferrable skills and the ability to start a business over a 10 month programme for Service personnel, spouses and dependents of Regulars/Reserves and Veterans. Courses have been delivered both in the UK and overseas. By the end of phase two 199 course participants had set up their own business. The programme received two grants of LIBOR funding totalling £324,000 and subsequent support of £606,000 from HSBC to continue this work until 2020. Royal British Legion Industries Lifeworks Families – LIBOR funding of £241,000 provides Employability coaching services to develop key skills, CV writing, increase confidence and motivation and identify career and training opportunities. Over three years this initiative has assisted over 750 spouses and dependants across UK, Germany and Cyprus of serving/recently discharged Regulars and Reserves. The programme will continue until 2019 post LIBOR funding, with funding secured from the Royal British Legion, Annington Homes and Greenwich Hospital. In addition to these three pillars, Defence Relationship Management (DRM) continues to increase the number of organisations and employers making the pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant (there are currently over 1,300 signatories). DRM account managers encourage employers to review their HR policies to assist spousal employment and a number are doing so through the Service Families Federation channels.

Armed Forces: Oldham

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what strategies and programmes his Department has put in place to support people in Oldham wishing to serve in the armed forces following the closure of the local armed forces recruitment office.

Mike Penning: The Army provides excellent employment opportunities not just for the people of Oldham, but across the UK. As Britain's biggest provider of apprenticeships the Army offers chances not just for a job, but for a career and ongoing training supporting Her Majesty's Government's social mobility agenda too. Since 2012 Army recruitment has been delivered in partnership with Capita, under the Recruiting Partnering Project. This has focussed on modern and convenient recruiting processes, including online tools and facilities. Applications to join the Army are initiated through the Army website and candidates receive extensive advice and support throughout the application process from recruiting advisors based at the Army National Recruiting Centre, Upavon. Similar processes and support are available to applicants for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Face-to-face support and advice is available at the nearby Armed Forces Careers Office in Manchester.

NATO

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on encouraging NATO member states to meet the spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence spending.

Mike Penning: Ministers and officials in the Ministry of Defence regularly discuss the 2% Defence Investment Pledge with Allies and NATO counterparts, including the NATO Secretary General.

Radioactive Materials: Transport

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of safety provision afforded to convoys of defence nuclear material across UK road and rail; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin: Safety provisions for the movement of Defence Nuclear Material by road and rail are regulated and assessed by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR). The most recent DNSR assessments, of road in June 2016 and rail in September 2016, found that safety arrangements were adequate, demonstrating that performance meets the required standard. A wide range of safety and contingency measures are in place to ensure the safe movement of Defence Nuclear Materials. These are summarised in the publicly available Local Authority and Emergency Services Information document.

Armed Forces: Cadets

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2016 to Question 37401, if he will make arrangements to visit Cadet detachments in Northern Ireland.

Mark Lancaster: As Minister with responsibility for Cadets, I commend the good work Cadet forces do in Northern Ireland and welcome invitations to visit its Cadet establishments. I have no immediate plans to visit Cadet detachments in Northern Ireland but I would be very happy to consider such visits in the near future.

Wrecks

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in other countries on the protection of maritime wrecks which are classified as war graves.

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of historic Royal Navy maritime wrecks classified as war graves which have been plundered or broken up by illegal scrap metal operators.

Mike Penning: Where we have evidence of desecration of the wrecks of Royal Navy vessels, we will take appropriate action, including working with regional Governments and partners to prevent inappropriate activity at such sites. It should be appreciated however that, given the vast locations of Royal Navy wrecks around the world, there are limitations on what protection we can provide.

Ministry of Defence: Departmental Responsibilities

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2016 to Question 54408, on departmental responsibilities, how many staff have been allocated to the central co-ordinating team.

Mike Penning: Four members of staff have been allocated to the central team responsible for coordinating work across the Department.

Fulwood Barracks

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on maintaining Fulwood Barracks in the last five years.

Mark Lancaster: Maintenance costs for Fulwood Barracks amounted to £4.25 million over the last five years.

Fulwood Barracks

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proposals his Department has considered relating to Fulwood Barracks after its closure in 2022; and what assessment has been made of potential uses for that site.

Mark Lancaster: Since there is no defence requirement for the site at Fulwood Barracks beyond 2022, Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials will work closely with the Local Authority and other interested parties to consider the best possible future use for the site, including for housing or commercial use. Closing Defence establishments can often provide new opportunities for local re-use and development. The MOD recognises the historical significance of this particular site and will work with any new owners to find a long-term sustainable solution for preserving the heritage associated with the site.

Ministry of Defence: Buildings

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has undertaken a dilapidation survey of the Citadel in Plymouth.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has not conducted a dilapidation survey of the Citadel in Plymouth. The estimated date of release is 2024.The MOD holds condition records as part of its normal estate maintenance programmes; dilapidation and other surveys will be undertaken in the early stages of the disposal process. The Citadel is a historic Grade 2 monument, which the MOD has taken great care to maintain under the direction of English Heritage; this maintenance will continue up to the disposal date.

Stonehouse Barracks

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has conducted a dilapidation survey of Stonehouse Barracks.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has not conducted a dilapidation survey of Stonehouse Barracks. The estimated date of release is 2023. The MOD holds condition records as part of its normal estate maintenance programmes; dilapidation and other surveys will be undertaken in the early stages of the disposal process.

Defence Equipment: Theft

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the military uses are of the FIST Thermal Sight stolen from a Ministry of Defence site in the last year.

Harriett Baldwin: The FIST (Future Integrated Soldier Technology) Thermal Sight is used for surveillance and target acquisition by dismounted close combat soldiers and can be mounted to compatible rifles or used as a handheld thermal imager for observation.

HM Treasury

Equality

Dawn Butler: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the equality impact analysis published on 25 November 2016 by the Women's Budget Group and the Runnymeade Trust on the effect of the Autumn Statement 2016 on women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds; and what plans he has to respond to that publication.

Mr David Gauke: The Government carefully considers the equality impacts of the individual measures of fiscal events on those sharing protected characteristics, including gender, race and disability. In line with the Government’s continued commitment to equality issues, these impact assessments will continue to inform the Government’s policy decisions.

Privatisation

Greg Mulholland: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the report published in May 2016 by We Own It and the New Economics Foundation, entitled Future profits vs short term cash: What's at stake in the Great British sell off.

Mr David Gauke: Where there is no longer a strong policy reason for continued public ownership or where there is potential for an asset to operate more sensibly and efficiently in the private sector, the Government will look into the potential sale of public sector assets. Asset sales help achieve stronger public finances, reduce national debt and encourage economic growth through investment. The Government is committed to ensuring the effective and efficient management of publicly owned assets and keeps ownership of all assets under review.

Infrastructure: South East

Daniel Zeichner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.14 of the Autumn Statement 2016, when he plans that the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission on investment in the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford corridor will be implemented.

Mr David Gauke: The government welcomes the National Infrastructure Commission’s report on the Oxford – Milton Keynes – Cambridge corridor. At Autumn Statement, we committed to £27 million of development funding for the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway, £100 million of accelerated investment in the western section of East West Rail, and £10 million of development funding for the central section of East West Rail. The government also welcomes the NIC’s work to look at a range of delivery models for housing and transport in the corridor, including development corporations, and will carefully consider its recommendations. Further announcements will be made in due course.

Health Services: Finance

Greg Mulholland: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.36 of the Autumn Statement 2016, how much of the additional £400 million patient capital funding will be spent in each region.

Mr David Gauke: The British Business Bank will invest £400m into venture capital funds through an open, competitive process operating at a national level and there are therefore no specific regional allocations. The British Business Bank also assesses the regional distribution of equity finance in the UK as part of its work to provide an overall picture of funding conditions and publishes its findings annually.

Transport: Refrigeration

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to review permissions for the use of red diesel in transport refrigeration units.

Jane Ellison: All auxiliary engines are currently able to use rebated diesel. The Government keep this under review to make certain that this exemption is used appropriately.

Museums and Galleries: Tax Allowances

Diana Johnson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much Museums and Galleries Tax Relief was received in each NUTS 1 region of the UK in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: The museums and galleries tax relief will be introduced in April 2017, so there is no information about where it is claimed at this stage. Autumn Statement 2016 announced that the relief would be extended to include permanent exhibitions to make it accessible to a wider range of museums and galleries across the United Kingdom.

Wells Fargo

Phil Boswell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has any financial arrangements with Wells Fargo.

Simon Kirby: The Department does not have any financial arrangements with Wells Fargo.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance Premium Tax

Phil Boswell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the rise in insurance premium tax on numbers of uninsured road users.

Jane Ellison: Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) will increase from 10% to 12% from June 2017. IPT is a tax on insurers and it is up to them whether they pass on any increased costs. The Government has not seen any evidence to suggest that previous changes to IPT have led to increases in the number of uninsured vehicles. The estimated number of uninsured vehicles in the UK has fallen from 2 million in 2005 to 1 million today.

Treasury: Public Appointments

Diana Johnson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.36 of the Autumn Statement 2016, what the membership is of the advisory panel which HM Treasury has commissioned to identify barriers to accessing long-term finance for growing firms.

Mr David Gauke: The Prime Minister announced on 21 November that HM Treasury will lead a review to help growing innovative firms obtain the long-term ‘patient’ finance that they need to scale up and that Sir Damon Buffini will chair the advisory panel for the review. We intend to provide further details about the review in the forthcoming Industrial Strategy Discussion Paper.

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership

Tim Farron: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department's decision to grant £14 million to the £165 million bid from the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership on the number of essential growth projects in that county.

Mr David Gauke: The Autumn Statement announced that the government will award £556 million from the Local Growth Fund to the North of England. Funding awarded to Cumbria LEP will be in addition to the £47.4 million already made available to Cumbria through previous rounds of growth deals. The final allocations to individual LEPs have not yet been confirmed and will be announced in the coming months.

Minimum Wage: Wales

Gerald Jones: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many investigations there were into employers for paying less than the minimum wage in Wales in each year since 2010.

Gerald Jones: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was collected from employers paying less than the minimum wage in Wales in each year since 2010.

Gerald Jones: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many prosecutions there were of employers for paying less than the minimum wage in Wales in each year since 2010.

Jane Ellison: The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW or NLW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reviews all complaints that are referred to them. HMRC does not record statistics on complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to countries of the United Kingdom, Government regions, constituencies or counties. In 2015-16, HMRC identified arrears of almost £10.3 million for over 58,000 workers from 958 employers. I refer the honourable Member to the answer of 18th July (Written Question 42723) for information on prosecution results. There have been no prosecutions in Wales.

Financial Services: Technology

Stephen Timms: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the financial technology sector of the UK exiting the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Kirby: The UK remains very much open for business and the Government is committed to supporting the financial technology sector, as demonstrated by the Autumn Statement which announced a £400 million increase in funding for the British Business Bank, alongside a package of FinTech specific measures. We have been clear that we are committed to getting the best possible deal for trade in UK goods and services. The government is maintaining an open dialogue with the financial technology sector as it prepares to withdraw from the EU.

Objects in Lieu of Tax

Kirsty Blackman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) estimate he has made of the annual revenue forgone by the Treasury as a result of and (b) assessment he has made of the efficacy of the tax relief introduced in the Finance Act 2012 related to the gift of pre-eminent objects.

Jane Ellison: Details of items donated under the Cultural Gifts Scheme and the amount of revenue forgone are published by Arts Council England, who administer the Scheme, in their Cultural Gifts Scheme & Acceptance in Lieu annual report, which is available at: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/programme/acceptance-lieu. The Scheme has proved itself to be a valuable resource for allowing owners of important works of art to donate them to the nation in exchange for tax reductions. Institutions across the whole of the UK have benefited from the Scheme.

Sequestration and Freezing of Assets

Mr Dominic Raab: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people suspected by UK law enforcement of involvement in (a) organised crime, (b) financial crime and (c) serious human rights abuses have been subject to asset (i) freezes or (ii) seizures by HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last eight years.

Jane Ellison: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Management Information systems within the Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) do not capture the data sought in a way which is readily available to provide the information requested. HMRC systems do not record which assets may be seized against a Restraint Order unless a Confiscation Order has been raised. Collating the data sought would therefore incur disproportionate costs. FIS does also provide data to the Home Office Joint Assets Recovery Database system but it is not categorised in a format that would provide the requested data. In order to extract this information, it would require reference to case paperwork and would therefore incur disproportionate costs.

Assets: Russia

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government is taking steps to prevent the 39 Russian nationals, named in the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act passed by the US Congress and President Obama in 2012, from holding assets in UK banks or UK listed companies.

Simon Kirby: The Government has not taken steps to prevent individuals named in the US Rule of Law Accountability Act, from holding assets in UK banks or UK listed companies. The Government’s approach to strengthening human rights globally focuses on multilateral and bilateral action to hold to account those states responsible for the worst violations of human rights, and working with those states determined to strengthen protections in locally appropriate ways. The National Crime Agency treats allegations of money laundering with the utmost seriousness and will continue to support inquiries in the UK that are designed to help bring justice in jurisdictions that can target the criminality in this case.

Freezing of Assets: Russia

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to take steps to freeze the assets held in the UK by the 39 Russian nationals named in the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act passed by the US Congress and President Obama in 2012.

Simon Kirby: The Government has not taken steps to prevent individuals named in the US Rule of Law Accountability Act, from holding assets in UK banks or UK listed companies. The Government’s approach to strengthening human rights globally focuses on multilateral and bilateral action to hold to account those states responsible for the worst violations of human rights, and working with those states determined to strengthen protections in locally appropriate ways. The National Crime Agency treats allegations of money laundering with the utmost seriousness and will continue to support inquiries in the UK that are designed to help bring justice in jurisdictions that can target the criminality in this case.

Corporation Tax: Tax Allowances

Kirsty Blackman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the (a) annual cost to the public purse and (b) efficacy of the tax relief introduced under the Finance Act 2013 relating to disincorporation.

Jane Ellison: HM Revenue and Customs routinely monitors the number and value of disincorporation relief claims made. The annual cost of the relief is negligible. The Government will continue to review the effectiveness of all tax reliefs.

Tax Allowances: Married People

Kirsty Blackman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the (a) annual cost to the public purse and (b) efficacy of the tax relief introduced under the Finance Act 2014 relating to the transferable tax allowance for married couples and civil partners.

Jane Ellison: The Marriage Allowance was introduced in April 2015, to recognise the importance of marriage in the tax system, and support those on low incomes. It allows a non-taxpayer who is married or in a civil partnership to transfer 10 per cent of their personal allowance to their spouse, provided they are a basic rate taxpayer. In 2016-17, eligible couples can receive a tax reduction of £220, or £432 if they make a backdated claim to 2015-16. Around 1.2 million couples have successfully applied for Marriage Allowance. The Government remains committed to ensuring all eligible couples are aware they can claim the allowance, and HM Revenue and Customs recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of the savings the allowance can bring to eligible couples across the country. The estimates published at Budget 2015 projected that the Marriage Allowance will be worth £595 million to eligible couples in 2016-17.

Tax Allowances: Social Enterprises

Kirsty Blackman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the (a) annual cost to the public purse and (b) efficacy of the tax relief introduced under the Finance Act 2014 relating to investments in social enterprises.

Jane Ellison: The Government announced the enlargement of Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) at Autumn Statement 2016. By 2021-22, SITR is forecast to cost £65m per year. Further information can be found in the Tax Impact Information Note, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/autumn-statement-2016-tax-related-documents The Government will also review the design and operation of SITR within two years of its enlargement to ensure that it is being used as intended, that it supports social enterprises which would otherwise struggle to access finance, and that it delivers value for money.

Tax Allowances: Combined Heat and Power

Kirsty Blackman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the (a) annual cost the public purse and (b) efficacy of the tax relief introduced under the Finance Act 2015 relating to combined heat and power onsite generation.

Jane Ellison: A Tax Impact and Information Note on the exemption of combined heat and power plants from carbon price support is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carbon-price-floor-fossil-fuels-used-in-a-combined-heat-and-power-station-to-generate-good-quality-electricity-consumed-on-site.

Scotland Office

Railways: Scotland

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether the Government plans to devolve full rail powers to the Scottish Government.

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Department for Transport on devolving full rail powers to the Scottish Government.

David Mundell: The Scottish Government is responsible for rail services and infrastructure investment in Scotland. The further devolution of rail powers was not a recommendation of the cross-party Smith Commission agreement. The UK Government is committed to working closely with the Scottish Government to provide a better railway for passengers.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: EU Law

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the contribution of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Environmental Audit Committee on 25 October 2016, Question 332, what proportion of existing EU legislation within the policy remit of his Department cannot immediately be brought into UK law upon the UK leaving the EU.

James Brokenshire: The Government will bring forward legislation in the next session that, when enacted, will repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and ensure a functioning statute book on the day we leave the EU. This ‘Great Repeal Bill’ will end the authority of EU law and return power to the UK. The Bill will convert existing European Union law into domestic law, wherever practical and in that context all relevant legislation is currently being identified and assessed.

Independent Reviewer of the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many visits the independent reviewer of justice and security has made to (a) Northern Ireland and (b) north Belfast in each year since 2012.

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions the independent reviewer of justice and security has had with political parties and elected representatives in north Belfast in each year since 2012.

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what organisations and individuals in north Belfast the independent reviewer of justice and security has met with in an official capacity in each year since 2012.

James Brokenshire: The Independent Reviewer of the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 travels extensively to Northern Ireland each year and meets with a broad range of interested parties, including representatives from community groups and political parties in Northern Ireland. This year between May and November, the Reviewer has travelled to Northern Ireland on 12 separate occasions. The Reviewer’s annual reports, which are laid in Parliament, set out the number of visits made by the Reviewer each year and the various organisations and individuals consulted as part of the review process. Reports 5 to 8 cover the period 2012 to 2015 and can be viewed online at www.gov.uk/government/publications. Report 9 covering 2015 to 2016 will be published in the New Year.

Energy Supply: Northern Ireland

Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to maintain security of supply for consumers in Northern Ireland by retaining the ability to access and trade with European electricity and gas markets.

Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits to Northern Ireland energy consumers of maintaining an all-island single electricity market and arrangements for gas.

James Brokenshire: I recognise the benefits of the all-island energy market to Northern Ireland. Security of supply both to domestic consumers of gas and electricity, as well as business and agriculture is vitally important. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lord Dunlop, has met with industry representatives as part of the round of Business Advisory Group meetings, and I have spoken to senior industry representatives and Northern Ireland Executive ministers to hear first-hand the range of issues that generators face. The Government remains supportive of the proposed new developments, as well as the move to the Integrated Single Electricity Market.

Department for International Trade

Defence: Exports

Dr James Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of which countries offer potential markets for UK-based defence small and medium-sized enterprises to export armoured fighting vehicles or associated equipment and services; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Climate Change on such markets.

Mark Garnier: No formal assessment has taken place specifically for armoured fighting vehicles.However, the Department for International Trade’s Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) is available to support companies seeking to export such goods. Companies can also commission bespoke market research from DSO.

Department for International Development

Syria: Water

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the level of access for civilians in the city of Aleppo to clean water; and if she will make a statement.

Rory Stewart: In the East of Aleppo city, DFID partners assess that the supply of water is sporadic and the quality inadequate as a result of damage arising from the ongoing Regime offensive. To help address this, DFID implementing partners have supported repairs to water networks and generators and provided water purification tablets and jerry cans. In the West of Aleppo city, where there has been less damage to the water system, supply is assessed as adequate.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department's Partnership Principles apply to the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

Rory Stewart: The Partnership Principles are largely focused on our assessment of, and work with, partner governments and are not directly relevant to CDC, which invests in the private sector not governments.In countries where DFID has a country office, CDC and DFID liaise, consult, and share knowledge in a mutually agreed manner on the sectors and/or industries in those countries, states or territories which have the greatest developmental need.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the value and nature was of each example of fraud and corruption identified by her Department's internal audit of the Commonwealth Development Corporation Group's internal audit mechanisms in Commonwealth Development in each of the last six years.

Rory Stewart: CDC has their own internal audit function which reports to the Board. As noted in the recent NAO report four cases were referred jointly to CDC and DFID, and CDC consulted informally with DFID on a further three allegations.One of these cases – the allegations regarding ECP made in 2010 – is in the public domain. We cannot comment on other allegations.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what requests for capital funding were received by her Department from the Commonwealth Development Corporation/CDC Group in each of the last six years.

Rory Stewart: In 2014, CDC provided DFID with an Offering Memorandum setting out the case for and requesting additional capital in the amount of £735m. In accordance with the Share Subscription agreement signed in July 2015, DFID has provided CDC with two tranches of additional capital funding: £450 million in 2015 and a further £285 million in 2016. In total these amount to £735 million.

Overseas Investment: India and South Africa

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the total value was in each of the last six years of Commonwealth Development Corporation investments in (a) India and (b) South Africa by (i) state and (ii) economic sector.

Rory Stewart: Indiai) Disbursements in India by state The percentage of CDC’s disbursement going to the poorest states in India (classified as ‘A’ states under CDC’s development impact grid) has risen from 8% in 2009-11 (before CDC adopted a new strategy in 2012), to 30% 2012-14, to 42% in 2015. Amount disbursedState in India2009- 20112012-20142015Assam459,014445,898Bihar4,006,7846,873,457Chhattisgarh2,426,1681,014,4841,741,145Jammu & Kashmir90,6844,367Jharkhand153,963227,3221,254,654Madhya Pradesh1,055,7628,616,98018,220,511Nagaland68,0133,275Odisha2,665,9995,140,926996,051Rajasthan28,01614,788,16911,202,038Tripura17,059,696Uttar Pradesh7,410,43411,451,41711,921,586West Bengal4,147,66414,372,8074,076,014Meghalaya100,77764,812Mizoram68,0133,275Andhra Pradesh69,193,3767,910,934524,070Himachal Pradesh201,568108,890161,243Karnataka21,385,16728,669,26414,457,966Kerala3,984,212495,7431,062,647Telangana2,301,142Chandigarh1,410,680125,06065,852Delhi3,741,32110,797,12310,082,935Goa779,865167,817Gujarat1,506,02213,990,9696,898,106Haryana9,951,77516,546,8663,859,030Maharashtra66,635,03836,870,05023,360,223Pondicherry75,262503,164Punjab1,223,82715,647,394Tamil Nadu15,666,83821,641,69722,515,359Uttarakhand1,250,854785,0231,300,230Grand Total212,814,857202,727,105174,472,815 Footnote - The above shows annual disbursements allocated state by state by CDC Development Impact team based on expected use of funds. This % is indicative for the portfolio valuation, as Indian companies do not account on a state-by-state basis.  ii) Economic Sector by total portfolio value (£m)Sector201020112012201320142015Agribusiness & Food5.44.210.211.020.624.7Consumer Services22.725.430.545.554.143.2Education4.94.77.58.710.710.0Extractive Industries11.65.74.73.74.71.9Financial50.944.969.982.6138.6209.9Health care153.552.559.965.1118.8138.8Industrials88.999.496.887.396.0107.2Information & communications technology27.327.930.026.732.232.1Infrastructure132.5129.5129.1116.8119.9105.3Real Estate17.121.623.219.517.415.9Grand Total514.8415.8462.1467.0613.0689.1  South Africai) Total value of investments by state South African companies do not account value on a state-by-state basis. CDC does not assess its South African investments by State. ii) Economic Sector by total portfolio value (£m)Sector201020112012201320142015Agribusiness & Food5.75.65.77.610.310.2Consumer Services32.531.935.229.932.65.9Extractive Industries12.84.56.05.87.47.1Financial56.761.167.467.419.421.2Health care0.60.70.70.90.00.0Industrials104.599.597.570.550.527.7Information & communications technology3.816.319.219.823.218.8Infrastructure3.95.641.0143.8135.090.6Real Estate0.00.00.00.0Grand Total220.4225.1272.7345.5278.4181.5

Developing Countries: HIV Infection

Stuart Blair Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many civil servants in her Department have work responsibilities relating to HIV and AIDS; and in which offices, teams or directorates those civil servants are located.

James Wharton: 15 people in Policy Division currently work on sexual reproductive health and rights, to which HIV is central. 9 staff work in Global Funds Department, with institutions that are critical for our multilateral engagement on this issue. We have a cadre of 76 health advisers and 87 social development advisers, whose work regularly requires engagement with HIV issues, as will that of numerous other staff around the Department.

Department of Health

Fracking: Health Hazards

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department's assessment is of the potential implications of drilling for shale gas for the health of residents living in close proximity to shale gas well sites.

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Director of Public Health for Lancashire's report, published on 6 November 2014, into the Potential Public Health Impacts of the Proposed Shale Gas Exploration Sites in Lancashire, how many of the 61 recommendations in that report his Department has acted on; and which of those recommendations have not been acted on by his Department and why.

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Public Health England report entitled Review of the Potential Public Health Impacts of Exposures to Chemical and Radioactive Pollutants as a Result of the Shale Gas Extraction Process, published in January 2014, how many of the recommendations made in that report his Department has acted on; and which recommendations have not been acted on by his Department and why.

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to estimate the number of residents living in close proximity to Cuadrilla Resources' shale gas well at Preston New Road who have pre-existing health conditions potentially susceptible to aggravation by drilling for shale gas.

Nicola Blackwood: The Public Health England (PHE) report, published in June 2014, concluded that the currently available evidence indicates that the potential risks to public health from exposure to chemical and radiological emissions associated with shale gas extraction will be low if the operations are properly run and regulated. PHE continues to review the evidence on the potential public health impacts of emissions associated with shale gas extraction.The Director of Public Health at Lancashire County Council, commissioned a rapid health impact assessment of the shale gas exploratory stage, specifically the proposed sites at Roseacre Wood and Preston New Road, which included an assessment of the baseline health profile for residents within the Warton and Westby ward of the Fylde district. The relevant recommendations for the health community fell broadly into four areas; public engagement, health surveillance, health impact assessment and research. PHE is taking forward the recommendations relevant to their responsibilities.PHE engages regularly with Government partners and agencies in respect of the PHE review recommendations. Actions include continued engagement with the regulators, supporting public engagement events in areas where shale gas developments are proposed, and participating in a baseline environmental monitoring project led by a British Geological Survey consortium:http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/groundwater/shaleGas/monitoring/yorkshire.html

General Practitioners

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure GPs are added to the medical performers list in a timely fashion.

David Mowat: NHS England is responsible for the operation of the NHS England Medical Performers List. Due to current issues with the time taken for applications for change of status from general practitioner (GP) registrar to GP to be completed, NHS England is accepting the checks and balances that Health Education England put in place when first accepting GP registrars onto their training scheme.

General Practitioners

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time was for adding newly qualified GPs to the NHS England medical performers list in the most recent period for which figures are available.

David Mowat: NHS England is responsible for managing the NHS England Medical Performers List. They have advised that they do not collect or record data which identifies the average time to change the status of a doctor from general practitioner (GP) registrar to qualified GP. NHS England have confirmed that any delays in processing the change of status will not impact on a doctors’ ability to see patients, as they are already on the list.

Tobacco: Health Education

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding on tobacco control has been provided by his Department to (a) international governmental organisations and agencies and (b) international non-governmental organisations and agencies in each of the last five years; and if he will provide a list of those such organisations and agencies.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual budget for tobacco control was in each of the last five years; and how much of that budget was spent (a) internally within his Department, (b) on UK activities or grants and (c) on international activities or grants.

Nicola Blackwood: The following table gives the Departmental tobacco control programme budget annual spend for 2011/12 to 2015/16 and the amount of that spend that was paid to international organisations. The rest of the spend was related to United Kingdom activities. Information on the tobacco control team’s administrative costs could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Financial YearTobacco control programme budget spendFunding for World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control secretariat2011/12£550,500Nil2012/13£949,000£550,000*2013/14£920,000£182,0002014/15£1,003,000£275,0002015/16£1,133,000£206,760* initially a biennial payment In addition, since 2013, the Department has funded local authority expenditure on tobacco control through the public health grant. Local authority public health spend on smoking and tobacco was £147 million in 2013/14, £134 million in 2014/15 and £94 million in 2015/16.

Drugs: Manufacturing Industries

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment the Government has made of the potential for additional costs or complexities for medicines manufacturers in securing separate regulatory approval for products for the UK and the EU after the UK leaves the EU.

David Mowat: The Government is fully assessing how the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union will impact on medicines regulation in the UK. No decision has yet been made on the future of UK medicines regulation. Therefore, we cannot speculate on future regulatory processes or costs for medicines manufacturers.

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received on the performance of the Pennine Acute Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health meets NHS England and NHS Improvement on a weekly basis to discuss National Health Service performance at a local level. It is the responsibility of NHS Trust Boards, their commissioners and regulators, and of the clinicians who work at trusts, to ensure service delivery meets the required performance standards. A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified 10 items of correspondence received since 1 June 2016 relating to the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. This includes letters from members of the public about their experience of care and treatment at the Trust, and Regulation 28 Reports to Prevent Future Deaths following inquests held into the deaths of patients who received care and treatment from the Trust. This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only. In September 2016, the Department replied to the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton’s (Graham Stringer) Parliamentary Question 44138 about avoidable deaths at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

NHS Trusts: Private Patients

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much in fees from private patients (a) was collected by and (b) remain outstanding to NHS trusts in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Mr Philip Dunne: The income recorded from National Health Service providers from private patients for the past five years is in the table below. Any surplus generated from the treatment of private patients is reinvested by the provider for the benefit of NHS patients. 2011-12 £000s2012-13 £000s2013-14 £000s2014-15 £000s2015-16 £000s454,062478,761501,708526,138558,194  For the sake of consistency the figures for 2011-12 and 2012-13 include private patient income from primary care trust (PCT) providers. All PCTs ceased providing healthcare from 2013-14. The Department does not collect figures for outstanding fees from private patients. Source: Department of Health Annual Report and Accounts 2011-2016

Health Services: Greater London

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of efficiency savings to be found under the North West London Sustainability and Transformation Plan; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat: Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are being developed by local areas. The North West London STP footprint estimates that its plan will produce £570 million of ‘business as usual’ savings based on NHS England’s counterfactual set out in the Five Year Forward View, the majority delivered by the acute providers through joint working and without strategic change. Furthermore, the plan also estimates that changing service provision will deliver £303 million of clinical commissioning group commissioner savings and £143 million of provider savings, subject to capital investment.

Hospital Beds: Greater London

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on plans to make changes to the number of hospital beds as part of the North West London Sustainability and Transformation Plan; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat: Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are being developed by local areas. The North West London STP sets out a strategic overview for the health economy of North West London, and does not include details of bed numbers. The Implementation Business Case will be published on 6 December, setting out the capital ask for investment into North West London. It will include some modelling on bed numbers. The case will propose significant investment in healthcare across the whole of North West London including in hospitals, out of hospital hubs and general practitioner surgeries.

Nurses: Training

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of nursing students who will apply for student finance for courses starting in January 2017.

Mr Philip Dunne: Under the existing NHS Bursary scheme which eligible pre-registration healthcare students can access for courses that start before 1 August 2017, the NHS Business Services Authority estimate the number of nursing students applying for funding for courses starting in January 2017 will be in the range of 1,300 to 1,350.

Care Homes: Nurses

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is the responsibility of nursing homes to backdate the increased rate for NHS funded nursing care to April 2016.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the ability of local authorities to cover the increase of £44.25 per week announced for NHS funded nursing care.

David Mowat: NHS-funded Nursing Care is the funding provided by the National Health Service to homes providing nursing to support the provision of nursing care by a registered nurse. Where an individual has been assessed as eligible for NHS-funded Nursing Care, it is the responsibility of the relevant NHS clinical commissioning group to ensure that the weekly rate of £156.25 is passed on to the care provider in full, including making arrangements to backdate the rate to 1 April 2016 for individuals who were eligible at this time. Section 22 of the Care Act 2014 makes clear that the costs of providing nursing care by a registered nurse are the responsibility of the NHS, rather than of the local authority or of those individuals who are funding their own care.

Hospitals: Fire Prevention

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospitals have been found to have poor (a) fire detection systems and (b) fire separation provision by the Care Quality Commission in each of the last five years.

Mr Philip Dunne: The quality of fire detection and alarm systems or information relating to fire compartmentation in National Health Service premises in England, are not areas inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), nor is this information collected by the Department. The CQC is concerned with the safety and quality of treatment for patients and the fundamental standards are based around Person Centred care; treating the patients with dignity and respect, the need for consent to treatment, and the meeting the nutritional needs of patients. The CQC does check premises and (medical) equipment but this is around making sure the premises are clean, secure, and suitable for the purpose for which they are being used rather than looking into any evacuation processes. Fire detection and alarm systems and fire compartmentation are matters enforced by local fire and rescue services under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The CQC is not the enforcing authority for these regulations.

Mental Patients: Suicide

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many recorded suicides there have been among psychiatric hospital in-patients in England in each of the last five years.

Nicola Blackwood: The Department does not hold this information. However the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness collected information on the number of estimated and confirmed inpatient suicides in England from 2004 to 2014. This information can be found in their latest report, which was published in October 2016: http://research.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/cmhs/research/centreforsuicideprevention/nci/reports/2016-report.pdf

Mental Illness: Newham

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many mental health diagnoses were completed in (a) the London Borough of Newham and (b) East Ham constituency in each year since 2010.

Nicola Blackwood: The information is not available in the format requested. The attached table provided by NHS Digital shows figures for patients using National Health Service adult secondary mental health and learning disability services by clinical commissioning group of general practitioner practice or residence, for 2013/14, 2014/15 and an estimate figure for 2015/16.



PQ55708 mental health diagnoses in Newham
(Excel SpreadSheet, 40.38 KB)

Borderline Personality Disorder

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder received Mentalisation Based Therapy in each year since 2010.

Nicola Blackwood: This information is not held centrally.

Mental Health Services: Expenditure

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department's response of 28 September 2016 to the petition Make more awareness and help available for young men dealing with mental health, what the evidential basis was for his estimate that annual mental health spending had increased to £11.7 billion.

Nicola Blackwood: In relation to monitoring performance, in October 2016, NHS England published a Mental Health Five Year Forward View Dashboard. The dashboard includes metrics for monitoring key performance and outcomes data and will be updated quarterly. £11.7 billion was an NHS England estimate of mental health spending in 2014/15, based on a bespoke data collection. From 2014/15 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have been asked to return financial data on total mental health spend, spend against additional allocations, and how this spend is split at a programme level. Additional guidance has been provided to CCGs to improve consistency of reporting. This financial data has been included in NHS England’s mental health dashboard.

Secure Psychiatric Units: Finance

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2016 to Question 54960, what the (a) outturn and (b) planned spend was for specialist commissioning of secure inpatient mental health services in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

David Mowat: Planned spend for secure inpatient mental health services is based on contracts negotiated during the planning round so by default NHS England only set plans at the level of total mental health spend (at provider level) not at individual service line level. However, the outturn for specialised commissioning of secure inpatient mental health services is contained within the below table. YearOutturn2014-15£1,317 million2015-16£1,281 million

Hepatitis: Drugs

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2016 to Question 53183, whether NHS England applied for an exemption from its legal requirement to make available ledipasvir-sofosbuvir (TA 363), ombitasvir-paritaprevir-ritonavir with or without ribavirin (TA 364) and daclastasvir (TA 365) within three months of the technology appraisal guidance being issued by NICE.

Nicola Blackwood: NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have advised that no extensions to the implementation period were requested as part of these technology appraisals.